We Take What Comes and We Keep on Going
by Anonymous Skrtle
Summary: This is for the 31 Day Challenge from the BTR Plot Adoption Forum. It's a collection of our four boys being awesome and adorable and amazing.
1. Clouds

**Day 1: Clouds**

_ "Whew! That was a fun ride, huh?" 8 year old Kendall Knight looked up at his father, grinning and shaking the sweaty bangs out of his forehead._

_ "Yep, it was awesome! What are we doing here?" Kendall asked curiously. His father smiled, motioning for Kendall to sit down beside him._

_ "Daddy is showing you something. Look, up there." He pointed up towards the blue sky, and Kendall looked._

_ Kendall furrowed his bushy eyebrows together. "There's nothing there but the sky and the clouds."_

_ His father chuckled. "I want you to look at the clouds, buddy. It's called cloud watching. Try seeing what those big clouds up there look like." He pointed up to the sky. "Like that one. Doesn't that one over there look like an elephant?"_

_ Kendall squinted hard to see, but he couldn't see how the cloud looked like an elephant. "It looks like a... it looks like a tree, not an elephant!" He argued, being the stubborn boy he is._

_ His father shook his head. "No way, Kendall! That definitely looks like an elephant. See the trunk and the big body?"_

_ Kendall still couldn't see. "No! I only see the leaves and the trunk of the _tree_, not the elephant!"_

_ They argued like that for some time, until moving on to the next cloud and arguing all over again. They lay in the green grass, talking and arguing and laughing for hours. Finally, the sky was dark and it was getting cold outside._

_ "Kendall, buddy, it's time to head home." His father told him, standing up._

_ Kendall groaned. "Aw, daddy!"_

_ "Aren't you hungry, Kendall?"_

_ Kendall thought for a second." I guess. Alright, let's go!"_

_ "I'll race you back, buddy!"_

_ "You're on!"_

It was a sunny day. The sky was blue and full of clouds. It was the five-year anniversary of Kevin Knight's death.

His son, Kendall Knight, lay on the grass, staring up at the clouds. He turned around and grinned at his father. Well, his father's grave.

"Hey, dad. It's Kendall. I'm cloud watching, just like you taught me to." He told him, knowing no one could hear him but still talking anyway. His dad could somehow be listening... it was a nice thought, wasn't it?

Kendall pointed up at the sky, grinning when he saw a cloud shaped like a tree. "Hey, look! It's a cloud that looks like a tree! And it _doesn't_ look like an elephant, dad." He pointed out.

But no one responded.

Kendall sighed, getting up and placing the red roses he had bought onto the dirt in front of the headstone where his father lay. "I wish you could be here, dad, and argue with me about the clouds like you used to." He sighed. "I love you, daddy. I really miss you."

He walked away, getting onto his bike and pedaling away from the cemetery. He was almost late for dinner, and his mother would be wondering where he was. He didn't want to tell anyone he had visited his father at his grave. It was his own private moment, one he shared only with his father, wherever he was.

He loved his father, and even though he missed him, it was time to move on. His father would have wanted him to move on, do other things. Now he had his three best friends; James, Logan, and Carlos, and his mom and his baby sister Katie. He loved hockey and he had developed a strange passion for singing.

But even though Kendall knew it was time to let his father go, it still pierced him in the heart when he realized that there would be no one racing him home on his bike this time.

**A/N- So, this was written for the 31 Day Challenge. So I'll be posting every day (or trying to) and every day it'll be a different theme! So please review and tell me what you guys thought of the first one! These will be pretty short since I have to write 31 of them in 31 days haha.**

**Peace, Love, and Giraffes**

**Anonymous Skrtle**


	2. Park

**Day 2: Park**

Carlos was sad. The cold autumn wind was blowing in his face, orange leaves fluttered towards the cold dirt ground, and Carlos Garcia was sad.

And to think that this beautiful place, the park, was the cause of all his misery.

The thing was, there was _nobody_ at the park except for him. Carlos remembered a few years ago, there were _always_ kids at the park, laughing and playing and crying. Even worse, Carlos remembered when his three best friends were always at the park with him every day after school.

But now all the kids were at home playing video games or chatting online with their friends. No one bothered to go outside and enjoy the nature anymore. And Kendall was too busy practicing for his hockey games every day, James was always busy dating girls even though he was only 14, and Logan was too busy studying and doing his homework for all his advanced classes.

So Carlos was just sitting there, alone and by himself and lonely and sad all at once.

He wished he were little again. Then he would be able to play with his friends every day. Kendall wouldn't have been obsessed with hockey, James with girls, and Logan with school. But now, Kendall was training for championships, James had a serious girlfriend, and Logan was already going on college visits.

Carlos felt like no one had the time for him anymore. He was still the same little kid. He wasn't very athletic except for once a week hockey practice, he still thought girls were a bit disgusting (and it wasn't like any girl would date _him)_, and he struggled to even stay in school without flunking out.

"Hey!" Carlos looked up, surprised that there was actually someone at the park. But what he saw made him even more surprised.

It was Kendall. Carlos sprang up from his seat, running towards his older friend. "Kendall! What are you doing here?" He asked excitedly, giving Kendall a tight hug.

Kendall laughed. "I went to your house and your mom said you were here."

Carlos let go of him. "But... Don't you have practice today?"

"It got canceled. Coach is out sick with the flu." Kendall explained. Carlos couldn't be more grateful that Coach was sick. He felt bad for thinking it, but it was true.

Kendall sat down with Carlos on the grass. "So, what are you doing here all by yourself, buddy?" Kendall asked curiously.

Carlos looked down. "I-I don't know... I was just kind of sad that no one ever comes to the park anymore. They're all at home playing video games and stuff." He admitted, sighing.

Kendall nodded. "You're right. This place is almost always empty."

"Yeah... and you guys are always busy too, and it just..." Carlos gulped and looked away, embarrassed. "N-nevermind."

Kendall wrapped his arm around Carlos's small shoulders. "No, tell me. It's okay, I won't laugh." He promised gently.

"It just feels like... you guys don't ever have time for me." He whispered, tears in his eyes. His cheeks burned red. 13 year olds didn't cry. But here he was, sniffling like a little baby.

Kendall bit his lip and looked at Carlos, his grip around his shoulders tightening. "Aw, Carlos. I'm sorry we've been ditching you. You're right; we should be spending more time with each other. We're best friends." Carlos didn't respond, for fear that if he opened his mouth to speak even one word, his tear ducts would burst.

"Here, how about this? I'll reduce my hockey practices to 3 times a week, and I can spend more time with you. We can even go to the park every day if you want." He suggested.

Carlos sniffled, looking up at Kendall. "R-really?"

Kendall nodded. "Yep. And I'll talk to James and Logan too. I'm sure they have time to spare."

Carlos smiled and snuggled into Kendall's arms. "Thanks, Kendall. You're an awesome friend." He said softly.

Kendall grinned. "No problem, buddy. I should thank you. You are the glue that keeps this friendship together. Hey, you wanna go swing on the swings?" He offered, smirking.

Carlos sniffled, wiping the last of his tears on the sleeve of his jacket. "I-isn't that for babies?"

Kendall scoffed, pulling Carlos up with his. "Who cares? No one's here." He pointed out. "Come on!"

Carlos ran after Kendall, laughing when Kendall pushed him high up on the swings. Kendall got on his own swing and they tried to see who could swing up the highest.

No one came to the park for the rest of the day, but Carlos didn't care. As long as his best friend was by his side, nothing could ruin this day.


	3. Crush

**Day 3: Crush**

"Hey, Katie, whatcha lookin' at?" Kendall called, having come back from the pool early. Katie spun around so fast, Kendall was surprised her head didn't fall off.

"Oh, hey, Big Brother." She got out, looking nervous and on edge. "What are you doing back so early?" Kendall narrowed his eyes. He walked towards where Katie was looking out the window, staring at the exact spot where she had been staring.

"Are you... looking at _James?"_ Kendall sputtered incredulously. Katie's face turned as red as a ripe tomato, and she scoffed.

"N-no, of course not. Why would I be doing that?" She laughed, but it sounded so weird that Kendall automatically knew she was lying.

"You're in love with James?" Kendall asked, smirking. Katie rolled her eyes and punched Kendall in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for? I was just asking." Kendall protested, rubbing his sore arm.

"I am _not_ in love with James. It's just a... small crush." Katie said, looking out the window to peer at James again.

Kendall chuckled. "_Sure,_ whatever you say." He replied sarcastically.

Katie bit her lip. "Look, I didn't want to tell you this, but you won't believe me otherwise. It seriously _is_ just a small crush. I've had a crush on Logan _and_ Carlos before, and now I think they're weird." She admitted, her face red.

Kendall gaped at her, eyes wide. "_What?_ You've had a crush on _them_ too?"

Katie slapped a hand over Kendall's gaping mouth. "Don't announce it to the whole world, stupid! And yes I've had a crush on both of them. But it was nothing serious, I'm serious!" She assured Kendall.

"When did this happen? Why did I never know?" Kendall demanded, looking curious and amused.

Katie shrugged. "Well, when I first had a crush on Logan, I was 9. He always helped me with my homework and... I don't know."

Kendall wanted to laugh, but he didn't for the sake of Katie's dignity. "You liked him because he helped you with_ homework?"_

"Shut up! I was only 9!"

"Fine. Then what about Carlos?"

"That was actually pretty recent. It was, like, the first year we moved to L.A. Remember that girl Gustavo hired to be Carlos's girlfriend? Sasha?" Kendall nodded. "Yeah, well I saw how sweet he was with her and... well, you know."

Kendall nodded again slowly. "So now you're over it?"

Katie nodded. "Yeah. And now it's James. There really was no reason behind it; he always accuses me of having a crush on him, and maybe I'm just... prone to suggestion."

Just then, the door slammed open, and three soaking wet teenage boys stumbled in, slapping each other and yelling. "Hey, Katie!" Carlos called enthusiastically, waving. Katie waved back.

The boys calmed down and dried themselves. "Hey, Katie." Logan greeted. James grinned at her.

Kendall smirked at the slight blush on Katie's cheeks. "Hey, guys, I have to go grocery shopping for mom, but I'm feeling a little sick. Any of you guys wanna go instead?" He asked, staring at James.

"I'll go." Logan offered.

Kendall shook his head. "No- you, uh, you have to stay here and take care of me. And Carlos doesn't have his license, so I guess you can go, James!" Katie slapped her forehead into her hands.

James shrugged. "Alright."

Kendall grinned. "Cool. And take Katie. She has the grocery list in her head. She can help you."

"Oh! Can I come too? Please?" Carlos piped up, grinning.

"No, you can stay home with me and I'll play Mario Kart with you, okay?" Kendall offered. Carlos nodded happily and went to get the game ready.

James nodded and pulled on Katie's wrist. "Alright, then, Katie. Come on, let's go!"

Katie laughed. "Don't you have to change first? You're dripping wet." She stated the obvious.

James blushed a little. "Whoops. I forgot about that. Wait here, okay?" Katie nodded and watched as James ran into his bedroom to change.

Kendall fake-coughed. "Logan, come take care of me!" He dragged Logan away towards his bedroom, giving Katie an obvious wink as he left.

Katie rolled her eyes. Her brother was the best. But he was still an idiot.


	4. Together

**Day 4: Together**

"James? I think we should be heading home." 12 year old Logan told his friend worriedly. It was getting dark, and it was starting to snow. And knowing winters in Minnesota, a small snowfall could soon turn into a huge snowstorm.

"But this is awesome, dude! Can't we stay for 30 more minutes?" James whined. He and Logan had been sledding down a hill a few blocks from their neighborhood since 3 that afternoon.

Logan shook his head. "I think we should probably go, James. We don't have phones and our moms will be worried. And I think there's a storm coming." He warned, glancing around anxiously.

James wrapped an arm around Logan. "Aw, come on, Logan. Please? Stop being such a worry wart." He complained, smirking when Logan looked offended.

"I'm not a worry wart!" He argued.

"Then let me stay." James pouted, crossing his arms.

Logan sighed. "Fine. But only 20 more minutes."

James cheered and grabbed his sled. "Come on, Logan! Let's go down the Broken Arm Hill!"

"Dude, I think it's called that for a reason, stupid." Logan mumbled, but followed James nonetheless.

And he was right. Because as soon as James and Logan pushed themselves off the hill, Logan realized there was something they had missed.

There was a huge rock right where they were headed. "James, watch out! There's a rock over there! We're going to fall!" He shouted through the wind and snow, which was now falling steadily.

Before James could react, though, the sled had almost made contact with the rock. The two boys flew forward, slamming into the snow.

Logan groaned, relieved when he felt no pain other than a scraped hand. It was bleeding a bit, he otherwise he was fine. He glanced over at James, and his heart fell.

James was on his back, whimpering and groaning in pain. He held his right arm to his chest.

Logan crawled over to where James was laying. "James? Are you okay, James?" He asked, fearful of the answer.

"I-I think I broke my arm, Logan..." James cried, tears dripping down his face. "I-it really hurts."

Logan paced around worriedly, looking around for some kind of familiar path. He knelt down next to James and helped him sit up. "I think we're lost, James. I don't know how to get back. Do you?"

James looked around and then shook his head. "I-I don't remember, Logan... oh my gosh, how are we going to get home?" The snow had started falling even heavier now.

Worry and fear pulsed through Logan's veins. "See? I told you we should have just left. You never listen to me, and now look where we are!" He scolded James.

James winced at the pain in his arm. "This isn't my fault!" He retorted.

"Yeah it is! You and I wouldn't be here right now if we had just went home like I said! But you just had to be stupid and stay here, and now you have a broken arm!"

James stood up, towering over Logan, who was considerably shorter. "I am _not_ stupid." He said quietly, gritting his teeth together.

Logan got right up into his face. "Well, it sure seems like you are. You may be pretty on the outside, but you are _not_ smart."

James shoved Logan backwards. "Well, you're not smart either! You would have remembered the way to get home if you were!" He argued.

Logan shoved James back. "Don't blame this on me! This is one hundred percent your fault!"

James was breathing heavily. "You know what? If you're going to blame this on me, I'm leaving! I'll find my home by myself, and I don't need your help! I'm not as stupid as you think I am, Low-gain." He insulted, using a nickname Logan hated.

"Fine! You're too stupid to find your own way home anyway, and I don't want to follow you again when you don't listen to me and go the wrong way!"

The two boys turned and walked in opposite directions.

_Line line line_

Logan could see lights in the distance. He had trekked through a few feet of snow until he finally ended up on his street. He stumbled towards his house, scared and relieved that he wasn't lost anymore.

He rang the doorbell, his nose running and his face burning red from the cold. His mom opened the door, and Logan hugged her tightly. "Oh, Logan, sweetie! What happened?"

Logan walked in and took off his boots. "James and I- we were sledding but then we got lost and then I-I didn't know where to go but somehow I found our house." Logan explained, tears in his eyes from the traumatic experience.

"Oh, honey..." Mrs. Mitchell took Logan in and changed his clothes and gave him hot chocolate. "Did James go home safely too?" She asked with concern.

Logan froze. He had forgotten about James. He was so mad about the fight and so scared that was never going to make it home alive that he had forgotten all about James and his... his broken arm.

"Oh no... O-oh my gosh..." Logan cried guiltily. "J-James broke his arm but then we had a fight... and I don't know where he is, mom!"

Mrs. Mitchell didn't waste a second. She started up her car, and she and Logan and Mrs. Diamond, who Logan's mom had called, were on their way to search for James in the snow.

What if James had lost too much blood from the broken arm? What if he caught pneumonia? What if a wolf found him and ate him? What if-?

"There! There he is!" Mrs. Diamond yelled loudly, pointing outside. Logan followed her finger, and saw a bundled up figure that looked like a person.

Logan sprinted out of the car as soon as it stopped, and ran towards the figure. "James! James, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for leaving you!" He cried, hugging James as tight as he could.

James sniffled, his nose running. "I-I'm so cold, Logan... and my arm..." He trailed off, sobbing. Logan helped James back into the car. Mrs. Diamond called 911.

James arm was bleeding pretty bad. Logan wrapped it up with his first aid kit. "James... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you." Logan apologized again.

James sniffled. "I-it's fine. I'm sorry for not listening to you when you told us to go home. I guess I am pretty stupid." He admitted sadly.

"James, I... I didn't mean to say that. You're not stupid. I promise. You're beautiful _and _smart, really. I was just worried and scared and... maybe I'm not that smart either to leave you there like that." Logan told James.

James smiled weakly at him. "No... y-you're smart too, Logan. You found your way home and you came back to get me... thanks." Logan heard sirens in the distance. The ambulances were coming to take James to the hospital.

"No problem, James. But I really _am_ an idiot." Logan chuckled.

James laughed along with him. "Why?"

Logan wrapped an arm around James. "I should have known that we should have stuck together."


	5. Cat

**Day 5: Cat**

"Guys!" James winced at the loud noise that was Carlos's sometimes obnoxious voice.

"What do you want, Carlos?" Kendall groaned.

Carlos held up a box. "Guess what I found?" He asked, grinning from ear to ear. James rolled his eyes affectionately at Carlos's childish enthusiasm.

"What did you find, Carlos?" James asked,

"A cat!" The three boys turned around, eyes wide. Carlos was holding a gray and white kitten inside the cardboard box.

"Carlos, you know Bitters doesn't allow pets in the Palm Woods hotel!" Logan chided. Carlos pouted, and Logan looked away.

"Aw, but he's cute! See?" He held the kitten in front of their faces.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but we still have to give him away." He deadpanned. Kendall nodded.

James stuck his face closer. "Does he have fleas?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

Before James knew it, the kitten had reached out its claws and dragged them down the pretty boy's face.

James shrieked, stumbling back and falling onto the orange sofa. "Ah! My face! Ow!" He screamed, grabbing the left side of his face and whimpering.

Carlos had flinched back, dropping the box onto the floor with a thud. He was currently trying to find the kitten and give it away while Logan rushed to get an ice pack and Kendall rushed to calm James down.

"James, it's fine, buddy. Here, let me see." Kendall encouraged him. James took his hands from his face.

Kendall's face paled. "Holy hockey pucks." He breathed out, eyes wide. "I-I mean, uh, you're totally fine, James." He lied.

James groaned. "Give me a mirror, Kendall." Kendall shook his head. "Please? It's _my_ face, Kendall."

So Kendall got him a mirror. Logan gave him an ice pack. James glanced in the mirror.

And then he fainted.

_Line line line_

"What are we going to do when he wakes up?" Logan whispered, glancing at Kendall.

Kendall shrugged helplessly. "Well, we can't just fix his face!"

It was true. There were 3 red scratches across James's face, starting from the left side of his nose all the way to the side of his left cheek. The scratches were red, swollen, and bleeding, and would surely leave scars for a while.

Carlos entered, and Kendall and Logan were relieved to see that the cat was gone. "I gave the cat away." He announced. "I-I'm sorry... I didn't know it would hurt him!" He apologized pitifully when both Kendall and Logan glared at him.

Kendall sighed, wrapping his arm around Carlos. "It's fine, Carlos. But James will _not_ be fine when he wakes up."

And that's when James woke up. "Guys? What happened?" He asked weakly.

Carlos looked at Logan, who looked at Kendall, who looked anywhere but at James. "Guys...?" James asked again hesitantly.

Kendall cleared his throat. "Well, um, you know that cat that Carlos brought in?" He started nervously.

James looked confused for a moment. Then his eyes widened. "M-my face!" He gasped, grabbing a mirror and glancing in it. "AAAH!"

Kendall grabbed the mirror from James's hands and smashed it to pieces by throwing it to the floor. "Don't worry! We can... make this better."

"How?!" James shrieked. "My face... i-it's ruined!" He said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, Gustavo is going to _kill_ you." Logan pointed out.

"Gustavo? That's all you're worried about? My _face_ is ruined! It's ugly! It's _hideous!_ How am I supposed to date girls now!" James freaked out.

Kendall sat down beside James, putting a hand on his shoulder. "James, being pretty isn't the only way to get girls, you know." He pointed out truthfully.

James sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "I know... I just don't have other redeeming qualities, so my pretty face is the only thing that can get me girls." He admitted, his voice softer. The other three boys shared glances with each other. James sounded almost... insecure about himself.

James was usually confident, cocky, and sometimes even vain. Never insecure. But it sounded like James truly believed that he only had physical beauty that kept him going.

"That's not true, James. You're not only pretty." Logan assured him. But James shook his head, disagreeing.

"It's true. Kendall is charismatic, Logan is smart, Carlos is sweet... those are all things girls like. But I don't have any of those things. I just have my face. And now I don't even have that." He whispered, tears in his eyes.

The three boys sat beside James, Kendall putting an arm around James's shoulder. "Dude. That is such a lie. You're all those things that you said we were."

"Yeah." Carlos piped up. "You're karizmatic, or whatever you just said. See? And you're smart too, since I don't even know what that word means." He admitted, grinning. "And I think you're pretty sweet too. Remember that time you spent your whole night trying to get the blonde Jennifer to like me?" Carlos reminded him.

James smiled a little. "Yeah, I remember... Thanks, but you guys all know being pretty is my main... trait."

"Dude, there are plenty of hot guys out there. Like Jett, for example. But girls don't like to date him. He's just as handsome as you." Kendall pointed out. James gave him a look. "Fine, not as handsome as you, but close. But girls don't like him because he's self-centered and sometimes a huge jerk."

"But... I'm self-centered and a jerk too."

"No, that's what you think." Logan told him. "You may be more... well, more proud of being pretty, but you never try to shove that into people's faces. You're not a jerk either. Everyone has their mean moments. And you're mostly pretty sweet and charming."

James looked at them. "Really? You think I'm all that?"

The three other boys nodded. "Yep."

"So even if your face doesn't heal, that's okay. Because I bet plenty of girls will still date you." Carlos assured him. "And besides; I'm pretty sure your face is going to heal."

James brushed his fingers on his wound. "Hey, maybe I can tell the ladies this is a battle scar."

Logan scoffed. "Battle scar? From where?"

James shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm good at making up stories to tell them."

Kendall and Carlos laughed while Logan just looked exasperated.

"Just remember, James." Kendall reminded him. "Beauty does not make you who you are."

James nodded, confident of himself again. "And no stupid cat is going to change that."


	6. The First Time

**Day 6: The first time**

"Hey! There's my best bud!" James greeted his younger friend, Carlos, who was sitting on his bed in the room that they shared, staring off into space.

Carlos looked up. "Hey, James." He greeted back, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. His voice wasn't as enthusiastic as it usually was. Something was wrong.

James tried to ignore it at first. Logan had probably confiscated his helmet again, or Kendall had beaten him (like he always did) at Mario Kart. "So... how was the date? Perfect, right?"

Carlos looked up at him with those big brown eyes of his. It made James feel like he had done something wrong, even though he couldn't remember what it was. "Yeah, it was alright." He admitted softly.

"Alright? It was only _alright?"_ James asked. Then he knew what the problem was. "Dude, I'm sorry for not telling you I was the waiter, alright? I just wanted you to have the best night of your life." James told him.

"Yeah. I know. Thanks." Carlos said, looking up at him with those stupid big eyes and giving James a horrible fake smile.

James sighed, sitting down on the bed beside Carlos. "Carlos, what's wrong?" He asked gently, using that voice that he only reserved for Carlos.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired. Can we go to sleep?" Carlos asked, trying to scoot away from James. James stopped him.

"Come on, buddy. I know something's the matter. You suck at lying."

Carlos looked down, embarrassed. "Can we not talk about this right now? Please?" He asked.

James almost said yes, but this couldn't wait another minute. "Sorry, Carlos. You know I'm always here for you. You can tell me whatever you want."

The younger boy wrung his hands together nervously. "It's just... tonight's the first time I've ever been on a real date with a girl." He admitted softly, his eyes fluttering to the ground.

"Yeah. I know, and that's why I tried to make it awesome."

Carlos took a deep breath. "I just... it didn't feel like a real date. Because you were there all along."

"What do you mean?" James inquired, genuinely confused.

"I just wanted Jennifer to like me for who I am... but she only liked the date because it wasn't _me_ dating her, it was _you."_ He admitted, playing with his fingers.

James shook his head. "It wasn't me, it _was_ you. You were there with her the whole time, she didn't even know I was there until the very end-"

"No, that's not what I mean." James stopped. Carlos never interrupted him, and Carlos never raised his voice like he was doing now. "I thought she liked me because I was sweet and a good date. But _you_ were doing all that stuff she liked. She would have liked going on a date with _you_, but if you hadn't been there, she would have left the first time I burped the abc's." Carlos ended his rant, sniffling and trying to wipe the tears from his eyes.

James looked away, feeling rotten. He didn't know that by basically planning Carlos's whole date for him, it was actually _him_ going on that date. He didn't let Carlos be himself... and honestly, if he had been himself, Jennifer _would_ have ditched him within the first 10 minutes.

"Carlos, I didn't know... I'm sorry, Carlos, I really am. But you'll always find another girl who likes you for being you. I won't interfere with any of your dates, again, I promise." James told Carlos.

Carlos shook his head. "I'm never going to have another date, James. There _are_ no girls who like me for me. They all like... people like you." He told James, sounding not bitter but sad.

James hated seeing the dejected look on Carlos's face. "Carlos... you just have to find the right girl. Not every girl is going to like you."

Carlos just shook his head again. "Yeah... but none of the girls like me. This was the first time I've actually seen a girl interested in me, and now I realize it's just because you were there all along."

James wrapped an arm around Carlos securely. "I'm sorry... I really am. I didn't know... never mind." The two were silent for a minute or two. "Hey, and you're wrong. I happen to know a girl who is completely in love with you."

Carlos looked up at him with wide, hopeful eyes. "Really? Who?"

"You know that new girl who showed up that time we went ghost hunting? Stephanie?" Carlos nodded. "Well, before she left, she told me that she thought you were the hottest guy at the Palm Woods. And guess what? Camille told me she's coming back to the Palm Woods in a few days!"

Carlos grinned widely. James smiled at his smile. "I'll make sure to set you up with her. I'll pick out your clothes and everything! But I promise I won't interfere this time."

Carlos looked happy beyond belief. "You'd do that for me? Thanks, James. You're the best." He said, hugging James tightly.

James laughed. "I know." They pulled away. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Carlos. You're sweet and hot and clever and fun... lots of girls like you like Stephanie does." He assured him.

Carlos smiled. "You're right. Thanks, James... you're an awesome friend."

"I know! Now come on, let's go find you a nice suit!"


	7. 247

**Day 7: 24/7**

Kendall took a shaky breath, his head in his hands. He was just so _stressed out._

Gustavo had just drilled into them another dance routine, and for some reason, Kendall had just completely blanked on it. And the concert was tonight. Even _Carlos_ was doing it perfectly, and he was supposed to be the weak dancer out of the group.

But Kendall couldn't ask for help. No, he wasn't _supposed_ to ask for help.

All his life, Kendall had been the rock for his family and his friends. Ever since his father had died, he had been like a dad to Katie and a protector for his mom. Out of Big Time Rush, Kendall was the leader, the strong one, the one who protected Logan, James, and Carlos from bullies and whatever else came their way.

So he absolutely couldn't ask for help. He was the rock 24/7, all day long, and he couldn't show weakness in front of his family and his friends.

But the concert was _tonight._

"Kendall! You wanna come to the pool with us?" Kendall turned around to see James, Logan, and Carlos standing at his doorway.

Kendall sighed, shaking his head. "No, you guys go without me."

Apparently that wasn't the right answer, because the three boys didn't leave. "Is something wrong, Kendall? You never say no the pool." James began.

"Everything's fine, guys. I'm just... I'm not in the mood." He lied. Well, it was more like a half-truth.

"You're a horrible liar, Kendall. What's the matter?" Logan inquired.

"Nothing! Nothing is the matter! Just leave me alone!" Kendall snapped, instantly regretting it when he saw the surprised looks on his friends' faces. "Just... please?" He softened his voice.

The three boys looked at each other and, dropping their pool things, sat down beside Kendall on his bed. "Dude, what's up? You've been acting weird all day. Is this because you got into that fight with Gustavo at the studio this morning?" Logan asked.

It was true. Gustavo had gotten pissed at Kendall for not remembering the dance moves, so they had gotten into a heated argument. "Kind of..." Kendall admitted, but then hating himself for admitting it. His friends would surely think he was weak.

"But it's not just that, right?" Carlos piped up. Kendall groaned inwardly. Why were his friends so... observant of his feelings?

"Guys, it's nothing. I'm fine, really." Kendall tried to assure them. The three just stared at him until it was making him uncomfortable. "Okay. Fine. It wasn't just because of the fight with Gustavo, okay?" He finally spit out.

"What else is it?" Logan urged him to tell.

Kendall took a deep breath. He couldn't get out of this one. "It's just... the concert tonight. I don't know the new dance we just learned... I completely blanked on it and I'm just stressed out, okay?"

James put a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, why didn't you tell us? We can teach you."

"I just... I didn't want to seem weak, okay?" Kendall admitted, his cheeks red with embarrassment.

"You're not weak, Kendall. Why would you think that?" Carlos asked innocently.

Kendall looked at them. "I'm the leader. _I'm_ supposed to help you guys. You guys aren't supposed to help me. I'm the strong one."

Logan scoffed. "Kendall, that's the most preposterous thing I've heard this week! You aren't God or Superman, you can't always be strong. And we're _friends;_ that means we help _each other._ That doesn't mean that one of them helps everyone else but doesn't need help in return." He explained.

"You're an awesome leader, Kendall. But everyone needs help." Carlos added.

"Yeah, man. You're still the strong one even if you need help once in a while. Well, not physically... we all know I can lift the heaviest weight out of all of you." James bragged.

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Yes, we all know, James. But thanks."

"No problem, Kendall." Logan said, patting the blonde boy on the shoulder. "What are friends for, right?"

"Yeah. What are friends for?" Kendall repeated, grinning. "Hey, so can you guys teach me the dance again?" He asked. It was nice asking for help instead of giving help for once.

The three nodded eagerly. "Sure. Let's go to the studio to practice, okay?" James suggested.

Kendall nodded. "Come on, let's go." He smiled to himself. His friends were the best. They had ditched relaxation time at the pool to help him.

And they had taught him that it was okay to ask for help.


	8. Sleep

**Day 8: Sleep**

3:43 am.

It was 3:43 in the morning, and Kendall didn't know why he was up. He had woken up and just couldn't fall asleep.

He got up, going into the kitchen to get a glass of milk. Logan always said milk helped you to relax and fall asleep easier.

But then Kendall realized. Logan wasn't in his room. That's why he couldn't sleep. Logan wasn't in his bed, asleep like he always was at 3, almost 4 in the morning.

So then where was he? Kendall looked around the house, finally hearing some noises coming from the office upstairs where they did their homework.

Kendall furrowed his eyebrows together and crept up the stairs. He saw a small light shining from the office room. He peeked in.

Logan was surrounded by papers and pencils. The computer was on, and he was typing as if his life depended on it. Kendall was even more confused. Why was Logan doing homework this late at night... or this early in the morning? Logan had always finished his homework early.

Kendall watched for another minute and then decided to speak up. "Logan?"

The smaller boy whipped around, dropping the pencil he was holding in his hand. "K-Kendall? What are you doing up?" He asked hurriedly.

"What are _you _doing up? I was up because I wanted to get some milk to help me fall asleep. You look like you're..." Kendall couldn't even finish. What was Logan doing? "You're still not done with your homework?"

Logan shook his head. "It's not that... it's just... kind of. I procrastinated, okay?" He admitted, clearly embarrassed.

But Kendall didn't believe him. Logan didn't procrastinate. And it wouldn't have taken him until now to finish his homework. Kendall walked over to Logan to glance at what he was working on. Logan automatically flinched and put his hand over the paper.

"Dude, let me see what you're doing." Kendall demanded. Logan shook his head.

"Just leave me alone, Kendall. Seriously." He said firmly.

Kendall shrugged, taking a step back. But then he saw it. Another paper laying on Logan's desk, with a different handwriting on the name line. Ozzie.

Taking a deep breath, Kendall took one step forward again. "You're doing _Ozzie's_ homework? Dude, that's called cheating, you know!" He pointed out.

"I know, I know... I just... it's just this one night, I promise." Logan tried to compensate.

"No, you can't do this _ever._ Did he... threaten you?" Kendall asked cautiously. Even though he and Logan were on somewhat good terms, Ozzie was more or less unpredictable.

Logan looked down, his face red. "Kind of... he said if I didn't finish his stuff by tomorrow... he hurt all of us." Logan admitted in a whisper.

Kendall sighed, taking a seat next to Logan and wrapping an arm around him. "Logan, it's awesome you're trying to protect yourself and us, but you can't say yes to helping him cheat."

Logan nodded. "I know, I know, I just did it before I could stop myself. I was... kind of scared of what he was going to do to us." He let out softly.

"I know, Logan, I understand that. But next time say no and come to us and we'll make sure he doesn't do anything he'd regret." Kendall told Logan.

Logan nodded. "I know, I made a stupid mistake. I'm sorry. I'll go and tell Ozzie I won't do his stupid homework tomorrow." He put his pencil down and stood up, grabbing Ozzie's papers and stuffing them back into his backpack. "I am _not_ doing some piece of beef's homework." He stated firmly.

Kendall grinned, patting Logan on the shoulder as he stood up too. "You got that right! We'll all go tomorrow and tell that loser we aren't going to get pushed around by him!"

_line line line_

"Ugh." Kendall groaned, holding an ice pack to his cheek. His eyes were black and his nose was bleeding.

Logan was in the same condition. They had gone up to Ozzie the next morning and told him off. So then Ozzie beat them up.

It wasn't a happy ending, but it was good enough.

"Hey. At least we stood up to him." Kendall pointed out.

Logan groaned. "Yeah. I guess. But I hate that guy so much."

Kendall nodded, wincing at the pain it caused. "Yeah, me too. At least now you can get some sleep. I don't think I'm gonna go to school tomorrow."

"Yeah. Me neither."

Kendall looked shocked. "You're skipping school tomorrow too?" Logan never skipped school.

Logan laughed. "Well, yeah. I feel like crap and I literally pulled an all-nighter last night. I think that's a pretty good reason to skip school. _And _I just go beat up."

Kendall shrugged. "Yeah. I guess that's a good reason. I'm gonna go to sleep."

"Me too. Good night. And thanks for helping me with Ozzie, Kendall." Logan said sincerely.

But Kendall was already asleep.


	9. Happy

**Day 9: Happy**

Carlos was the happiest person James knew. He rarely ever had a frown on his face, and James didn't think he'd ever seen Carlos get mad more than once every day. He always had a smile on his face, and he was always optimistic.

But James was not as happy a person as Carlos, and right now, he was completely pissed off. It started a few days ago, when James saw Carlos in the lobby greeting every single person he saw like he did every morning.

But apparently some people were not morning people, because they just looked at Carlos and rolled their eyes. And when Carlos wasn't within earshot, they would whisper words like "retard" and "faggot" about Carlos.

It happened _way_ too many times for James's liking.

And then today, Carlos was out by the pool asking every single person who was sitting alone if they were lonely and wanted to play frisbee with him. James was pretty sure Carlos didn't like frisbee all that much, and that he was just trying to get people to be less lonely.

This guy, he was new at the Palm Woods, laughed in Carlos's face and told him, "If you're too retarded to get friends, that's too bad. Stop being so needy." And then he pushed Carlos into the pool.

Camille had ran upstairs to tell James, who was the only one in 2J at the moment. James had rushed out and led Carlos up into apartment 2J, where the smaller boy was already in tears.

"I-I just wanted to ask him if he wanted to play... he seemed l-lonely. B-but he called me a retard and p-pushed me in the pool!" Carlos had cried, burying his face into James's shoulder. James had comforted him until he had fallen asleep in his bed, and that was where he was at the moment.

James sighed, pouring himself some water in the kitchen. It was so _stupid_ how the world valued angry and bitter people more than they valued the happy and cheerful ones. Carlos had only been trying to help... Carlos didn't need to ask that jerk to play with him. But he did anyway. Because he was nice and happy like he always was.

Who did that guy think he was?

James sighed, shaking his head. People were just such jerks he couldn't believe it. How could someone _not_ like someone as happy as Carlos?

When Carlos was happy, people seemed to just want to bring him down. Why? Was that because they couldn't stand that he was always so happy, and they were jealous of him being carefree?

Carlos didn't have an easy life. But he always had a smile on his face. So it wasn't that his life had no problems, it was that he knew how to get through life's problems with a smile on his face. And those idiots didn't know how to. All they could do was frown and cry and scream when confronted with problems.

But Carlos was different. Even when something bad happened, he was always optimistic and he was rarely angry with the world, even when the world deserved it.

It was one of his many endearing qualities; so why did other people see it as a sign of weakness? Why did they see Carlos's happiness as a sign that he was stupid and needy?

James didn't know. He didn't think he would ever know. People were just people, there was nothing he could do. And if no one could appreciate Carlos's happiness, something that rarely even existed anymore, then that was their loss.

"James?" James turned, seeing Carlos standing on the kitchen tile floor.

"Oh, hey. What's up?" James asked, grinning. Carlos smiled back.

"Do you wanna play video games? You're looking kind of down." Carlos told James, smiling at him. He had apparently forgotten all about what had just happened down by the pool. But James knew better. Carlos hadn't forgotten, he never really would. He would blame himself for the incident, even though it was by no means his fault.

But Carlos was still happy even with the mean words echoing in his head. He still had a smile on his face even though he had just cried himself to sleep. He wasn't perfectly okay, but he was happy and sometimes, that was all that mattered.

So James found himself a little happier too. He had to stop being angry at people. People were who they were.

But he had the best friend in the world, and that made him the happiest person in the world.

"Yeah, that would be great! Thanks, Carlos, you're the best friend I've ever had."


	10. Notes

**Day 10: Notes**

"I'll see you guys at practice, alright?" Kendall told his three best friends, who nodded. The four boys headed their separate ways towards their lockers anxiously.

All four were afraid to find what had been put in their locker this time. The four boys had recently been receiving notes with cruel insults typed onto them, but none of them had told each other yet. They all thought they were the only ones receiving the notes.

Today, James's note said, "Hey, airhead. What kind of makeup are you putting on today, pretty boy?"

Kendall's said: "Hey, stubborn hockey head. You're just a dumb jock who doesn't know anything else."

Logan's read: "What's up, nerd? Cramming the books tonight instead of going out to party? Oh, wait. You never even get invited to parties."

Carlos's read: "Hello, retard. How many people did you annoy today with your constant stupidity and your obnoxious voice?"

All four of the boys didn't feel like going to practice that day, but they still went anyway for fear of the other three asking about why they had ditched.

Hockey practice was rough; the four boys, who usually were at the top of their team, sucked. They fell and bumped into each other and missed easy shots. The coach yelled at them, but even he could tell that something was going on.

"Wow, that was one of the hardest practices in my life." Logan groaned as he packed up his stuff. Kendall and James nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... C-can I tell you guys something?" Carlos began, the words from the note making him feel rotten and stupid.

Kendall nodded. "Yeah, what's up?"

Carlos looked down and fiddled with his fingers. "I-I... I just keep on getting these notes whenever I open my locker... and-"

"Wait." James stopped him. "Like, typed notes?" Carlos nodded. "I get those too."

"Me too." Logan added. They all looked at Kendall expectantly. He just nodded.

"Are they, like, insulting notes?" James asked cautiously. The other three nodded.

"Yeah, mine called me a nerd. And... and it said I'm never invited to parties." Logan muttered sadly. Kendall wrapped an arm around him.

"Well, that is completely wrong. You are smart, yes, but you are not unpopular. You get invited to plenty of parties. The nerds _and_ the cool kids like you." He assured Logan, who smiled at him.

"What about yours, Carlos?" James asked worriedly. Carlos was the most sensitive one out of all of them; he would surely take the words to heart.

Carlos looked down. "I-It said..." He couldn't finished, but instead handed the note to James after retrieving it from his backpack. The other three read it.

James sighed, ripping the note into two pieces. "This is in no way true, buddy. You don't annoy us, and everyone else likes you for being you too. And you're not stupid; you can be a real genius." James reassured his younger friend.

Carlos grinned. "Really?"

"Yep."

"What about your note, James?" Kendall asked, knowing that James hated admitting weakness.

James sighed. "They said I was a pretty boy and an airhead." He admitted quietly, not meeting any of his friend's eyes.

"That's not true! You're not just pretty; you're also charming and nice and protective and kind and caring." Carlos listed, beaming when James looked happier.

"You're pretty on the outside _and _the inside, James." Kendall assured him. The other two boys nodded along.

Kendall packed the rest of his things up, pulling his bag up over his shoulders. "Wait." Logan commanded.

"What?"

"Don't be stupid. What about _your_ note?" Logan asked firmly.

Kendall shrugged. "Guys, it's fine. I don't care about what some idiot said about me."

James shook his head. "You're lying. Tell us. We're friends, remember?"

"Fine. I'm a dumb jock and all I can do is hockey." Kendall muttered so fast the others almost didn't catch it.

Logan gasped. "That is the most inaccurate thing I have ever heard!"

"Yeah! You're not only beast at hockey, you're also a good leader and pretty average when it comes to intelligence." James added.

"Yeah! You always give us these awesome motivational speeches and they help us win hockey games and other stuff." Carlos pointed out.

Kendall smiled a little. "You're right, guys. Thanks." He started to head out, the other three following suit. "Whatever that guy or girl said was wrong. They don't know anything about us; they can't judge us. We can't ever let anyone's words hurt us like that again."

James nodded. "No matter what, _we _know we're awesome and that's all the matters, right?"

"Right." Logan and Carlos agreed. The stuck their hands together and threw them up into the air, cheering.

The next day and all the days after that, no note ever showed up in the boys' lockers again.


	11. Tears

**Day 11: Tears**

"Alright Kendall... truth or dare?" James challenged in a mock scary voice.

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Uh, dare. Duh." He stated it like it was obvious.

James and Logan looked at each other. "Okay..." Logan began to think. "We could have him do something to Carlos." He said, talking about the boy who was currently taking a shower.

James nodded in agreement. "He _did_ push us into the pool today as a prank."

"_And _dyed us purple." Kendall pointed out, gesturing to their purple skin that had yet to come off. Carlos had assured them the dye came off in 2 hours, but it was still horrible.

"I got it!" Logan suddenly piped up.

"What is it?" James asked eagerly.

"What's the most embarrassing thing a teenage boy can do in front of his friends?" Logan started.

James widened his eyes. "Cry." The responded at the same time.

Kendall visibly gulped. "Uh... what are you guys talking about?" He asked cautiously.

James grinned. "We dare you to make Carlos cry." He stated.

"Yeah. And it has to be real tears, not fake ones." Logan added, grinning evily.

Kendall shook his head. "Come on, guys! Really?"

"Yes, really. And you have 30 minutes to do it. So you better hurry up, or else..." Logan let the threat hang.

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Whatever, you weirdos." He wouldn't let James and Logan see him fail, even though he didn't really want to make Carlos cry.

Carlos was just exiting his bedroom, his ink black hair still a bit wet from his shower. "Hi, Kendall!" He greeted cheerfully.

"What do you want, you big baby?" Kendall retorted harshly. Carlos stopped walking, staring up at Kendall with a confused look on his face.

"Uh, what?"

"I said, 'what do you want, you big baby?'. Are you deaf now too?"

Carlos looked taken aback. "I-I'm not a baby!" He protested.

Kendall scoffed. "Uh, yeah you are. And you're a loser."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You cheated on my girlfriend!" Kendall yelled loudly, making Carlos flinch.

Carlos shook his head. "N-no I didn't, Kendall, I-"

"Shut up! You're not my friend anymore, you retard!" Kendall shouted, shoving Carlos aside.

"Wait! Kendall! I swear I didn't even talk to Jo this week, I wouldn't never have cheated on her!" Carlos pleaded desperately. Kendall just wished he would cry already so he would stop having to look at Carlos's hurt face. This was the stupidest dare ever.

"And now you're a liar too? Wow, that's just low, even for a backstabbing loser like yourself."

Carlos shook his head again, tears forming in his eyes. "I-I didn't do anything, I promise! Kendall, you have to believe me!" He begged.

"Why would I believe _you,_ loser?" Kendall retorted loudly.

A tear fell down Carlos's face. He looked down and didn't reply. Kendall cheered silently to himself. "There! I did it, James and Logan!" He called. The two boys came out and judged that Carlos was actually crying and that Kendall had successfully completed the dare.

Carlos watched them with hurt eyes. "Th-this was all a dare? To make me cry?" He asked, his voice shaking and sad.

"I'm sorry, Carlos, but you know what-" But Carlos just shook his head and ran into his room. Kendall could hear muffled sobs coming from Carlos's direction. He sighed.

"I can't believe you guys made me do this!" Kendall chastised the other two boys, who looked guilty too. "I'm going to talk to him."

He walked into Carlos's room since Carlos never locked the door. "Hey, Carlos. I'm sorry about that. We're never going to play truth or dare again, I promise." He said gently, rubbing Carlos's back.

Carlos let out a small sob. "I-I can't believe I'm such a baby." He mumbled.

Kendall sat him up. "What do you mean?"

Carlos sniffled, his tears ceasing. "I always cry because of the stupidest things and you guys probably think I'm the most pathetic boy in the world." He admitted, his cheeks red and his eyes downcast.

"No, Carlos, we don't think that. Look, I'm so sorry for making you cry." Kendall apologized again.

"Y-yeah, but James and Logan only dared you to do it because they know i-it's easy to make me cry. Cuz I'm such a baby." Carlos argued.

Kendall put an arm around Carlos's shoulders. "No, buddy, you're not a baby. You're just more sensitive, and it's okay to cry. Real men cry, you know." Kendall assured him.

Carlos looked up at him. "They don't cry as much as I do, and you know that."

"Hey. It's cool to cry, okay? We all have our weaknesses. Like Logan always hyperventilates when he's panicking, James always gets these allergies when he's stressed that makes his face puff up. And I always freak out when I panic too. Those things are all considers weak, but who cares? You're strong in other ways too. Like making other people happy and doing awesome stunts." Kendall told him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. So don't worry about crying, buddy. We all have our things that make us embarrassed. But we just have to accept them and embrace what makes us proud."

Carlos smiled a bit, standing up. "Thanks, Kendall. You're the best."

Kendall smirked. "You wanna go and soak James and Logan with water soakers?"

Carlos grinned. "Of course! What are we waiting for?"


	12. Sick

**Day 12: Sick**

Logan felt horrible.

He realized it when he woke up, and so here he was, an hour later, still lying in bed. He didn't want to get up. He didn't want to eat breakfast, he didn't want to talk to anyone.

Logan got sick the least out of the four boys, because he had a pretty strong immune system like all the other boys, but unlike the other boys, he took extra care to always stay away from germs, wash his hands, and eat healthy.

So he didn't understand why he was sick. Maybe it was because the guy who smelled like cornchips sneezed on him last week, or maybe it was because Camille pushed him into the pool for one of her auditions and it was freezing in there.

But Logan was sick. He coughed and rolled over onto his side, sniffling. It was definitely a cold, but he still felt horrible. His head ached, his throat was scratchy, his nose was runny, and his eyes were dry.

"Logie?" Logan would even have complained about the embarrassing nickname if he weren't so sick. "It's time to get up; it's already 1 in the afternoon and Gustavo wants us at the studio at 2:30." Kendall stood in the doorway.

Logan groaned. "I feel like crap." He admitted, his voice nasally and weird-sounding. He hated admitting he was sick to his friends, but he knew there was really no getting out of it, considering that he probably looked half-dead anyways.

Kendall winced in sympathy. "Oh, you sound horrible too, no offense. Here, I'll cancel rehearsal and we'll all stay home and take care of you, alright?"

Logan groaned again, and this time it was not because he felt bad. "Kendall, you guys are not my mom."

Kendall laughed and just left the room. Logan could hear Kendall yelling back at Gustavo on the phone. Then he reappeared. "Well, that was easy." He grinned. "Now, I told James and Carlos to get you tissues and medicine. And I am going to make you soup. Chicken noodle."

Logan sat up dizzily. "I can do that, you don't have to. Really." He protested.

Kendall scoffed. "Logan, this is exactly what you do to us when we're sick. We're just returning the favor." He pointed out. Logan stopped talking. Kendall was right, but Logan still didn't like the fact that his friends were taking care of him.

James came into the room a few minutes later with medicine in his hands. "Drink up. Logan." He teased, handing Logan the medicine. "It's grape flavor."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Shut up, James." He retorted back playfully. Then Carlos finally came stumbling into the room with a box of tissues in his hands.

"Finally!" Kendall groaned loudly. "Carlos, I gave you the easiest task and it took you that long to get a stupid box of tissues?" He asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry! But I... ran into some trouble on the way here." Carlos defended himself, a sheepish look on his face. Kendall and James rolled their eyes.

"Alright, well I'm going to go make Logan some chicken noodle soup." Kendall announced, leaving the room.

Logan sighed. "I feel like he's trying to get back at me for taking care of him when he was sick last month." He admitted, sniffling.

James laughed. "Duh, Logan. Did your sickness mess up your brain too?"

"Did your birth mess up your brain too?" Logan retorted. James was about to say something back, but Logan was suddenly bent over in a coughing fit.

"Woah, Logan! You okay there, dude?" James asked with concern. Logan coughed one more time before giving a weak nod.

"I hate being sick." He rasped with a sore throat. James and Carlos chuckled.

"I'm pretty sure everyone hates it, dude." James pointed out.

"I've got your soup, Logan!" Kendall announced loudly, making all there jump in surprise. Chuckling, Kendall grabbed the metal spoon and spooned up a spoonful of soup.

"Let me feed you since your sick." Kendall suggested. Logan widened his eyes and shook his head.

"I'm not a baby, Kendall." Logan muttered angrily. Kendall made some airplane noises as he "flew" the spoon around. Logan rolled his eyes but let Kendall feed him anyways.

"You guys are so stupid." He mumbled, rubbing his dry eyes. But that one spoonful of soup already made him feel better.

"Aw, come on Logan, we just want to take care of you." Carlos grinned. Logan punched him in the arm. James reached over to smack Logan in the stomach twice as hard.

"Ow! Dude, I'm sick!" Logan groaned.

"Not with the stomach flu!" James retorted.

"I think I'm gonna throw up." Logan warned with clenched teeth. The three other boys looked at each other worriedly.

"James, get the bucket. Carlos, get the mop. I'll get the hand sanitizer!" Kendall ordered as the three all rushed out of the room.

Logan chuckled to himself. "I need to get new friends." He muttered, not feeling nauseous at all. His friends were such idiots.

But he still loved them.


	13. Walls

**Day 13: Walls**

"Oh, look who is it!" Kendall Knight turned around, his eyes narrowing.

"Hello, Brad." Kendall spit out bitterly. He was in the locker room getting ready for the hockey game in an hour. Apparently the other team had already arrived.

Brad Jenson was the captain of the team that was playing their school tonight; Deluthe. As the captain of their hockey team, Kendall and Brad had always been enemies. They were the two best schools in the state.

"What's up, Kendall Knight? Ready to lose?" Brad smirked, high-fiving two of his teammates. Kendall rolled his eyes.

"That's what someone who's about to lose says." Kendall spat back, clenching his fists together.

Brad laughed. "Still with the horrible comebacks, huh? See you haven't changed from last season, Kendall." He smirked.

Kendall grinned back sarcastically. "I see you're still the ugly fat-faced turd you were last season too."

Brad glanced over at a picture of the hockey team on the walls. "You have any new recruits this season?" He asked curiously.

Kendall shook his head. "Nope, everyone's still there. You scared?" He smirked.

Brad shook his head, laughing. "No way, not with those losers still on the team. Especially those three tagalongs you called friends."

Kendall clenched his teeth together. If anything made him angry, someone insulting his friends was it. "Don't call them that!"

"Why not? One's a nerd, another's a pretty boy, and the last's a retard. Come on, everyone knows your team doesn't stand a chance. Just look at them!"

Kendall drew his fist back and punched Brad in the face. "Don't talk about my friends like that. Ever." He hissed, leaving a somewhat shocked Brad and his teammates behind as he walked out towards the ice.

_Line line line_

"Timeout!" The whistle blew loudly in Kendall's ear as the Deluthe team called another timeout. Their team was winning 3-2, and there were 20 seconds left in the game.

James skated up to Kendall, clapping him on the back. "Dude, we're so gonna win this time! Deluthe can suck it!"

Kendall grinned. "Oh yeah, we've been undefeated this season!"

The timeout ended, and the game started again. Kendall skated around, taking the puck from his teammate and racing over to the goal. If he scored this they had the game in the bag for sure. He glanced around quickly and swung his stick.

He suddenly felt pain in his right arm as he fell down, down, down. The last thing he saw before the paramedics took him off the ice was Brad's brown eyes staring down at him evilly.

_line line line_

"So let me get this straight. Brad broke my arm?" Kendall repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time. He was lying in his hospital bed and had woken up with a broken arm and a blue cast.

"Yes, Kendall. He hit you from behind and got a penalty. We won 4-2. James got a free shot because Brad broke your arm." Logan explained.

Kendall grinned at James. "Nice, man." James grinned back.

"Yeah, anyone could have hit it."

"Does it hurt a lot, Kendall?" Carlos asked worriedly.

Kendall smiled. "No, it just aches a little. But I'll live. At least Brad lost. We kind of got into an argument in the lockers... and I sort of punched him."

"Dude. You know Brad was gonna get back at you for that." James pointed out. Kendall nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I did. But he was insulting you guys. I would break all my bones to stand up for my three my best friends."

"Aw, that's so sweet, Kendall." Logan laughed at the blush on Kendall's cheeks.

"Group hug!" Carlos announced happily. Kendall groaned as his three friends smashed into him as they pulled him into a tight hug.

It felt like he'd broken another bone from their group hug.


	14. Music

**Day 14: Music**

22 year old Logan Mitchell sighed as the cold wind blew through his brown hair. He sat down on the cold hard dirt ground beneath him, placing his hands on the ground. He glanced around at the sorrowful scene.

Big Time Rush had gone on until last year, when they had stopped. They didn't break up, they were just taking a hiatus. Maybe a permanent one.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Logan glanced at the caller I.D, pressing a button on his phone and looking up to the sky.

"Hey, Kendall. It's been what, 3 months?" Logan said softly, letting out another sigh.

"James, Logan, and I really miss you, you know." Logan continued, knowing that Kendall couldn't respond. "Sometimes we sing 'We Are' when we're together. You remember that song?"

"You wrote it. I remember that day we were performing at the Tween Choice Awards, and we won the purple rocket for 'Awesomest Song'. I remember asking you what your dream was. After all, you had fulfilled all of ours."

Logan picked off a piece of string from his shirt sleeve. "And you told us that being on stage with your 3 best friends_ was _your dream. That you would never trade that for anything in the world."

Logan looked around at the sight. "You were almost so selfless. I would have given Big Time Rush up in a second to pursue my doctor dreams. But even though you had a solid hockey career ahead of you, you sacrificed that in order to be with us."

Logan stood up, dropping a rose at his feet. "It's a bit corny leaving you a flower, Kendall, but it's the best I can do. We, _I,_ won't forget you until the day I die."

"You told us, in the song, that we're young and dumb and always chasing something. But you, Kendall, you weren't dumb. You only ever chased after one thing, and that was our friendship. So thank you. I never could have done what you did."

He turned away, walking out of the cemetery with his hands in his pocket. His phone buzzed again, and this time he pressed call instead of decline. "Hey, James." He greeted.

"Hey, today's the 3 month anniversary since Kendall died." He reminded Logan, as if Logan hadn't been counting the days since the death of his very best friend. Kendall had passed away exactly 3 months ago, from an accident that was never to be spoken of again.

"Yeah, I know. I'm walking out of the cemetery right now."

James sighed on the other end. "I wish I could be there." He was in Los Angeles, busy with his modeling career. Kendall had been buried in Minnesota, where he had grown up and where he had died.

"That's fine, James. Kendall would be totally okay with it. He'd say that a 3-month anniversary wasn't that important." But for Logan, any anniversary he could make up was important, because it gave him an excuse to come and visit Kendall.

Logan just couldn't let him go.

But sometimes, he had to just leave Kendall behind and focus on his life now. Until next month, when Logan would convince his boss that his friend's "4-month anniversary" was soon coming up, and that he needed a whole day to mourn.

_Life's too short to sit and wai__t for luck to come our way._

Because Kendall was worth it. And for Logan, he'd always be able to connect with Kendall through their music.


	15. Hospital

**Day 15: Hospital**

Kendall stormed down the street, not caring about the fact that it was down pouring or the fact that he had no idea where he was going.

He was so _angry._ Gustavo was the most annoying jerkface he'd ever met. He _always_ yelled at them and had never heard of the word "praise" in his life. Kendall had stormed out of the studio, pissed off after Gustavo had yelled at them yet _again_ for a dance routine that was near perfect.

They were _dogs;_ did he really expect them to be perfect? Humans couldn't even be perfect? And Kendall wanted to see Gustavo get on the floor and dance even one simple step. He would fail, and then who would be yelling?

Kendall let out a frustrated sigh, tears of anger in his eyes. The rain fell down his face, and the wind was howling so loud he couldn't hear anything.

He suddenly saw a bright light from behind him. He assumed it was lightning and continued to walk.

"Kendall!" Kendall stopped, not sure if it was just the wind he had heard or something else.

"Kendall, stop! Move, Kendall, move!" Someone shouted loudly. Kendall looked back right into the glaring headlights of a vehicle.

_Line line line_

This was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. His best friend was in the hospital, almost dead.

And it was all because of him.

Kendall still remembered those headlights as clear as day. They were coming right towards him, and he was frozen, frozen with fear and shock.

And then he was thrown to the ground, pushed out of the way by something. Or, rather, some_one._

He had looked up, his elbow bleeding from the fall. That someone had been James. James, who had apparently been running after Kendall. James, his best friend.

James, who was now on life support in the hospital.

"Kendall? Are you alright?" Logan asked quietly, his eyes red. Carlos sat beside him, sniffling.

Kendall shook his head. "Not really." He responded. He took a deep breath and shakily let it out. "This is- this is all my fault." He admitted in a whisper.

"No, Kendall, it's not-"

"Yes it is, okay? If I hadn't stormed out like that he wouldn't have had to run after me! But I did and he had to and now he's going to die!" Kendall said loudly.

It was true. James's parents wanted to take him off life support. If James were alive, he would have agreed.

But Kendall did not agree. But he didn't have any say in James's life. Only his parents did. It didn't matter that Kendall was his best friend since kindergarten. It didn't matter that it was Kendall's fault this happened and that he was trying to make it up to James. But he would never be able to, because James was going to die.

Logan didn't say anything else. James's parents walked out of James's room, crying. Kendall's heart broke for them, even though he didn't agree with their decision. He had caused their pain.

"Kendall? Do you want to go in, honey?" His mom asked gently. Kendall nodded, standing up and blinking the tears out of his eyes.

"I-I'll be out in 10 minutes." He told them hoarsely. He had 10 minutes to say goodbye to a lifetime of friendship.

James was attached to tubes and machines and looked like a... not a human. Kendall sat down on the chair beside his bed.

"Hey, James. So, uh, we're taking off your life support. I don't know if you can hear me or not, because the doctor said you might, but if you don't survive... you're dead." It hurt so much to say it.

"I-I'm sorry, James. This is all my fault. And no one can convince me otherwise. I'm sorry I'm so hotheaded and temperamental. You deserved a longer life. If anyone deserved to die, it was me. I was supposed to die, James."

Kendall chuckled bitterly. "For someone so self-centered, you sure are selfless when it involves your life."

"James... James, please don't die. You're my best friends, buddy. Please." Kendall begged, tears rolling down his eyes. "We're pulling the support off in a few minutes. Please. If our friendship ever meant anything to you... please." His voice dropped to a whisper.

He let out another sob, looking away from James's still body. "I'm sorry, James, and if... if you don't return... I love you, and you're the best friend I've ever had. Thanks for saving me."

Kendall walked out of the room and into his friend's arms. "It's time, Kendall." Logan told him softly. "They're going to do it soon."

Kendall just nodded. The doctors gathered into James's room. Mrs. Knight ushered everyone to the room too. The doctors explained some sort of stupid procedure while Kendall stared at James's face, looking for any signs of life other than the machine that forced him to breath.

He saw none.

So when the doctors pulled the plug, Kendall knew this was it. He would never see the rise and fall of James's muscular chest again. He would never see _James_ again.

He looked away, down at his shoes. James was gone.

But there were some occasions when Kendall wasn't right. And fortunately, this was one of them.

Because when Kendall looked back up again, James's chest was still falling up and down.

"Thank you, James."


	16. Secret

**Day 16: Secret**

Logan Mitchell was scared, worried, and anxious all at the same time. It wasn't a good combination of emotions.

Why was he feeling that way? Because he was harboring a secret. A secret that would change his lives and his friends' lives forever.

But he hadn't told his friends yet, and time was running out. He had to tell them. But Logan was afraid of their reactions. Would they be mad, bitter, resentful, even hateful?

But Logan had already made his decision. He has already packed his things.

Logan Mitchell was moving back to Minnesota.

He was leaving tomorrow morning. And he still had yet to tell his three friends, Kendall, James, and Carlos.

He didn't want to give up their dream just like that. He didn't want to ruin their dreams. But he had to pursue his own.

He was going back to study to become a doctor. He had just been accepted into a prestigious college in Minnesota.

Would his friends think he was incredibly selfish for doing that?

Logan didn't know, and that was why he hadn't told anyone about what he was doing yet except for his parents.

"Hey, Logan!" Logan looked up to see James grinning at him, holding up two shirts. "Should I wear _this_ to the party tomorrow," he asked, holding a shirt up, "or _this?"_

Logan shrugged. He wouldn't even be there for the party tomorrow. Big Time Rush's world tour would be beginning in 3 days, and the party was to celebrate. But the tour wouldn't be happening since Logan was leaving. He couldn't wait until the tour was over to leave since the new school year was already starting by then.

Unless they performed without Logan, they tour would be canceled. Logan would be disappointing millions of fans, but mostly, his friends. He was so selfish for doing something like this... but it was his dream.

Did he really think his dream was more important than millions of people?

Logan didn't know the answer to that, but it seemed to be yes. "I don't know, James. They both look great." He smiled at him.

James gave him a weird look. "You're acting strange. Something's wrong."

"What are you talking about?" Logan scoffed, trying to act natural. Something he was not good at when he was _not_ feeling natural. "I'm totally fine."

James just looked at him. Logan knew he couldn't hide from the truth. "Can you... can you call Kendall and Carlos in here too? There's something I have to tell you guys." Logan admitted.

James complied and in a few minutes, all four boys were in the room. "What's up, Logan?" Kendall asked. "You know you can tell us anything."

Logan took a deep breath. _Not this._ "The thing is... I won't be going on the tour." He began. Eyes widened.

"What do you mean? Of course you're going." Carlos said innocently. Logan hated to break his heart, but it had to be done.

"No. I'm not going because... because I'm going back to Minnesota tomorrow to become a doctor."

There was silence. James, Kendall, and Carlos glanced at each other, communicating without actually talking.

Kendall opened his mouth. Logan got ready for the insults that would surely come his way. "Congratulations, man, you're pursuing your dream," was what came out of the blonde's mouth, though.

"What? You're not mad? You don't think I'm selfish for giving up all this just for myself?" Logan sputtered, confused.

James shook his head slowly. "No, of course not. We're a bit sad, but we all have our own dreams, and it was already selfless of you to come out here to help pursue mine."

Logan was shocked. "We'll miss you, Logan." Carlos added, smiling.

Kendall glanced around. "James, Carlos... can you leave Logan and I alone for a while?"

So then it was just Logan and Kendall. "So, you're leaving tomorrow morning?" Kendall asked.

Logan nodded. "You guys are okay with me leaving and just canceling the tour? We worked so hard."

Kendall nodded. "It's fine, Logan. We're best friends, we make sacrifices for each other. You've already sacrificed a lot to be here."

Logan shook his head. "I-I'm disappointing millions of fans. And you're still going to let me do this?" He asked, still surprised.

Kendall looked at him. "This is _your_ life, Logan. _You're_ letting yourself do this. But quite frankly, I don't think anyone's stopping you from leaving but yourself. Think about it." He stood up and left the room, leaving Logan to his own thoughts.

Logan nodded to himself. He knew what he was going to do. He had known it all along.

He dumped the clothes out of his suitcase and shoved the suitcase into the closet. Dialing a few numbers on his phone, he knew that he would never leave his best friends. No matter what.


	17. Song

**Day 17: Song**

"Carlos!" James called to his younger friend.

"What?"

"Come here! I want to show you something!"

Carlos appeared at the door. "What's up?"

James grinned. "I wrote a song for Janine." He said proudly, holding up a notebook. Janine was James's date for tonight. James had been crushing on Janine for a while now, and was super excited.

"Cool! Can I hear it?" Carlos asked eagerly. James shrugged.

"Sure, why not? It took me _weeks_ to write it." James sung the entire song, which took about a minute, and then stopped and looked up at Carlos expectantly.

Carlos smiled. "That was awesome! It was better than what Gustavo writes for us!" He praised.

James beamed. "You think so?"

Carlos nodded, grinning. "Yeah, I think she's going to love it."

"Thanks, buddy." James said, giving Carlos a small hug.

"Good luck on your date!" Carlos called after him as he walked out the door.

_line line line_

James tapped his foot impatiently; it was already 30 minutes past the time he and Janine were supposed to meet at the restaurant. Had she gotten lost? Or hurt?

Pocketing the lyrics of his song, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number she had saved into his phone. It rung twice and somebody picked up. "Hi, this is Drake's Pizza Place, how may I help you?"

James was speechless. Janine had given him a fake phone number. She hadn't arrived not because she had gotten lost, but because she hadn't been planning on coming ever.

She had stood him up.

"N-no thanks, I think I called the wrong number." James responded quickly, hanging up the phone. He took a few deep breaths, trying to get his emotions under control. He didn't cry. James Diamond did_ not_ cry. Ever.

He paced out of the restaurant and got into his car. He blew his nose and wiped his eyes. What was wrong with him? He was crying over a girl. Only wimps cried over anything.

But he had thought she would have been the one. His first official girlfriend. She had seemed to like him and he liked her.

But he should have known better. The people at the Palm Woods were the future famous. Janine must have been a pretty good actress. If Janine was even her real name.

He had written a song for her and everything.

James wiped away his tears and started the drive home.

_Line line line_

"Hey, James, why are you back so early?" Kendall inquired as James walked into the apartment.

James ignored him. "Hey, what's wrong?" Kendall asked again, standing up.

James just shook his head. "I don't want to talk right now." He mumbled.

But of course, Kendall was stubborn, so he followed James into his room. "James, come on. What happened? Did you dump her?"

James looked at Kendall. "No... she-she stood me up." He admitted quietly, his cheeks burning. He sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands.

He felt the bed dip under Kendall's weight. "Aw, man, I'm sorry. That sucks." Kendall reassured James. "But it's alright, you'll find another girl."

James shook his head. "I-I just really thought... she was the one. I-I wrote a song for her and stuff." He sniffled, tears in his eyes.

Kendall rubbed his shoulder gently. "I'm sorry, James. Can I see the song?"

James shoved the sheet into Kendall's hands. It didn't even matter anymore. The song was useless now.

Kendall read it over. "James, this is amazing. I'm serious, it is. Who cares about that stupid girl? Any girl in their right minds would love this song. And you." Kendall told him.

James sniffled. "Really?"

Kendall smirked. "Duh. If you sang this to me and I were a girl, then I would love it." He told James genuinely.

James smiled. "Thanks, Kendall. Do you think the Jennifers will like it enough that they'll all date me?" He asked hopefully.

"The song isn't _that_ good, James." Kendall answered snidely.

James rolled his eyes and punched Kendall in the shoulder.


	18. Hockey

**Day 18: Hockey**

Logan was worried. And it wasn't because he had 3 tests the next day, or that he had finals coming up in 2 weeks.

It was because of Kendall.

The regionals game was coming up soon, and Kendall had been freaking out about it. Kendall _loved_ hockey, and if he won regionals, that meant he could go to state. And if he won state, then he could put that on his application to join the Minnesota Wilds or something.

But he was going a little _too_ overboard. Kendall would spend hours at the local ice rink practicing his shots and his plays by himself. He wasn't doing his homework and he didn't study for his tests, so his grades were really suffering.

But he was also ditching his friends and his family. Logan was chatting with Mrs. Knight lately, and she said that Kendall was hardly ever home. And when he was, he was watching hockey plays and going over his hockey plays. He never even came down for dinner anymore.

And Kendall was also ditching his three best friends. Kendall hadn't asked any of them to hang out since 2 weeks ago. And it was starting to worry Logan.

He couldn't ignore the hurt and the concern that radiated off of James and Carlos when Kendall yet again rejected their offers to hang out after school.

Kendall was taking this hockey thing too far.

And Logan was going to help him.

_Line line line_

"Hey, Kendall!" School had just ended, and Logan could already see Kendall hurrying to get to hockey practice early to get a little extra practice in before everyone else showed up.

Kendall turned. "Hey, Logan. Sorry, I can't talk, I gotta get to practice."

Logan held out an arm so that Kendall couldn't walk another step. "Kendall, what's gotten into you?" He asked, frowning.

Kendall looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"This!" Logan said loudly, gesturing at Kendall's hockey gear. "You're whole freaking _life_ is revolved around the game! Do you know how many times you've rejected us when we ask you hang out?"

Kendall looked away. "Dude, you know this game is important to me. James and Carlos aren't complaining." He pointed out.

"Yeah, because they don't want to be rude. But you're hurting them, Kendall. They think you care about hockey more than them, and frankly, I think they're right!" Logan shouted, lowering his voice a bit when people were beginning to stare.

"That's not true. After this game is over, everything will be back to normal." Kendall assured Logan.

But Logan shook his head. "Yeah, until the next big game comes along. Face it, Kendall. No matter how much you practice, you can't be perfect!"

"Yeah, but I can sure as heck try!"

Logan looked at him. "Whatever, Kendall. I'm sorry. I just... I just missed you, that's all. But it's clear that you don't care."

He turned and walked away, leaving Kendall to ponder in his own thoughts.

_Line line line_

"Kendall's not coming again?" James complained.

Logan sighed. "Nope, sorry. I tried talking to him today, but he just cares so much about hockey." He explained. They were all at James's house studying for the history test the next day, but once again, Kendall was missing.

"I miss him, guys. I wish the game would just end already so he could hang out with us." Carlos told them sadly.

"I know, Carlos, I miss him too." Logan agreed. James nodded.

The doorbell rang, and James jumped up. "Must be the pizza guy. He's a bit early."

He walked to the door, and Logan heard a bunch of chatting. But the scent of pizza did not reach his nose.

James returned, not with pizza, but with a certain blonde boy with green eyes.

"Kendall! You're here!" Carlos cheered, giving Kendall a tight hug. Kendall grunted.

"Carlos, stop, I can't breath!" Kendall chuckled.

"Sorry!"

Logan looked at him. "So... skipped practice?"

Kendall sighed. "I'm sorry, Logan. I thought about what you said today, and you were right. I _am_ putting you guys after hockey, and I'm sorry. You guys will always be my best friends, and the most important things in my life other than my family." Kendall apologized.

"Aw, thanks Kendall!" James said, grinning.

"So... you're not worried about the hockey game?" Logan asked.

Kendall shrugged. "It's just a game. And come on, we're definitely going to win anyways."

The other three boys laughed. "So... you're over your hockey craze?" James asked again.

Kendall nodded. "Absolutely."


	19. Writing

**Day 19: Writing**

"Rest up, dogs!" Gustavo instructed the four boys of Big Time Rush loudly. The boys winced at the loudness of his voice. "The first stop of the concert starts tomorrow night! And we have rehearsal in the morning at 8. Be ready!"

After he and Kelly had left, Kendall faced the boys. "Alright, so I heard this place is haunted. Should we go explore?" He smirked.

Logan shook his head. "No way there are ghosts in this place, genius." He scoffed.

"Fine. Then come with us and prove that to us." Kendall challenged.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

"Woohoo!" James and Carlos cheered. Kendall grinned to himself, unpacking his things.

"So, we'll sneak down into the hotel basement at 10 tonight. Sound good?" Kendall asked.

The three boys nodded.

_Line line line_

"This is kind of creepy." James pointed out, shivering as the sounds of dropping water echoed in his ears. Carlos nodded in agreement.

"What if we die?" He whispered fearfully, clinging onto James's arm.

"Guys, chillax. We won't die. There probably aren't even any ghosts." Logan told them.

Kendall shook his head. "Do you... do you guys hear that?" He asked softly. The other three boys paused and listened.

There was a strange noise, almost like... the wind howling. "Is that... is that the ghost?" James asked, his face paling. Carlos whimpered and Logan rolled his eyes.

"Maybe it's just wind, guys." Kendall pointed out.

"Why would there be _wind_ blowing inside a hotel, idiot?" Logan spat at, looking a bit freaked.

Kendall looked at him. "So you believe in ghosts too?"

"No way. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this." Logan responded.

The noise grew louder, and now it was clear what the "wind" was saying._ "I'm coming to geeeetttttt yoooouuuuu."_

James and Carlos screamed, hugging onto each other for dear life. Kendall back into the wall, and Logan flinched. "You think that's logical?" Kendall whisper-yelled at Logan. Logan shrugged.

"I mean, I have been wrong before."

Carlos looked at him with wide eyes. "So you... you think there's a-a ghost too?"

Logan opened his mouth to respond, but just then all the lights in the basement flickered off. The four boys all screamed, bumping into each other in the midst of the chaos.

"I-I'm scared, Kendall! I wanna go back!" Carlos cried in the dark.

"Me too!" James chimed in.

Kendall nodded, even though he knew they couldn't see him in the dark. "It's fine, guys, we'll be alright. Can someone find a light switch or something?"

The boys began to feel around for a light switch. Logan moved his hand right a little on its position on the wall, and he felt something. It was fuzzy, cold, and it was moving.

"AAH!" He screamed. "There's-there's something over there!" He cried.

James and Carlos screamed even louder. "I-I don't wanna die, guys!" James got out, hyperventilating.

"Guys, guys, just calm down. Where is it, Logan?" Kendall asked, trying to keep calm.

"I think it was over... there." Logan took Kendall's hand and placed it where his hand was. But there was nothing there.

"It's gone. I don't feel anything." Kendall said.

Suddenly, a sharp scream filled the basement. It was a woman's scream, high and piercing. James, Logan, and Carlos screamed like they were about to die, which honestly, could have been true.

But Kendall just smiled.

_"__James, Kendall, Logan, Carlos... you will all die and join me tonight." _

"No! No, I'm too young! I can't die!" James cried.

"Please don't kill us!" Carlos begged.

_"__What about yooouuu, Logan? You don't believe I'm reallll?"_

"N-no, I believe you're real. Just spare us, please!" Logan begged.

_"__Fine... I will spare alllll of you..." _The boys visibly relaxed. "BECAUSE YOU JUST GOT PRANKED!"

The lights flickered on, showing all the cast and crew of Stephanie King's newest horror movie sitting around laughing. Stephanie stood on the stairs, laughing hysterically. "Y-you guys should have heard yourselves!" She got out.

"What... what is this?" James asked incredulously. "This was all a _prank?"_

Stephanie nodded. "Yep."

"Why-why would you do something like this to us?" Logan sputtered, eyes wide.

Stephanie shrugged. "I didn't come up with it. You can thank your blonde friend over there." The three turned to where Kendall was standing, his face red and his eyes teary from laughing.

"Kendall?" Carlos cried. "You did this?"

Kendall smirked. "Sorry, guys. But come on, I couldn't pass an opportunity like this off! Stephanie was staying at the same hotel as us for the night... it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!" He defended himself.

The three boys crossed their arms. "We're _so_ getting you back for this."


	20. Prank

**Day 20: Prank**

"Is everybody set for plan 'get revenge on Kendall because he totally scared us at the hotel and it was totally not cool'?" James asked.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Next time, I'm naming the plans."

James chuckled. "That's what you always say, Low-gain."

"Hey! Don't call me that!"

James smirked. "That's what you always say too."

"Guys! Can we just start?" Carlos interrupted, bouncing with excitement. He _loved_ pranking people, even his best friends. Especially his best friends.

"Yeah, come on. Phase 1. Out!" James screeched, rolling out of the door. Carlos followed.

"There _is_ only one phase, idiot!" Logan called after, walking out of the door.

The three stood up in front of the swirly slide, waiting for the moment when Kendall could walk through the door. "Alright, everyone remember their positions?" Logan asked again.

"Yes." The other two boys responded.

The door opened. The three boys scurried away into their respective positions. Kendall shut the door.

"Kendall?" Carlos called.

"What's up?" Kendall replied, looking for where Carlos's voice was coming from.

"Can you come in my room and help me fix this light?"

"Carlos, I'm busy. And since when do you need that light?"

"Since Logan started making me do my homework. Come on, Kendall, you don't want to fail, do you?" Carlos asked pitifully.

Kendall sighed. "Fine. I'll be up in a sec."

Kendall walked up the steps slowly. "I'm coming!" He called.

"BOO!" James leaped out of the closet he was hiding in, squirting Kendall with a water gun.

Kendall flinched back. "Dude, what the heck? Stop!"

But James kept on squirting Kendall mercilessly. "This is for scaring us!" He shouted with glee.

Kendall couldn't see with the water in his eyes, and he flailed around helplessly. "Dude, stop-" He yelped with surprise when he lost his footing and went tumbling down the stairs.

James stopped squirting. "Uh oh..."

"What happened?" Carlos asked, popping out of the room.

"He fell down the stairs." James winced, looking down at where Kendall was lying, motionless. "Where was Logan? He was supposed to make sure he fell down the _slide _and into the tub of feathers."

"Guys! My jacket is stuck on the closet hook!" Logan called from inside the closet, his voice muffled. The boys helped him out.

"Darn it, I think we've gotta take him to the hospital." Logan said, looking down at Kendall.

Carlos sighed. "This isn't as fun as I thought it would be."

_line line line_

"I hate all of you." Kendall stated, placing his crutches on the floor once again as he took another step toward the elevators.

"We already said we were sorry!" Logan defended. "And you_ really _sound like Gustavo, man."

Kendall glared at him. "Shut up. Don't make fun of me; you owe me."

"Okay fine, fine, we owe you. But come on, that was us getting you back." James pointed out.

"Yeah, but you guys didn't end up with a broken leg." Kendall deadpanned.

Carlos winced. "We're sorry, Kendall. At least you can skip rehearsal for a while now." He pointed out, always the optimistic one.

Kendall sighed. "I would kill all of you right now if I weren't in crutches and a blue cast."


	21. Extreme

**Day 21: Extreme**

Carlos looked up at the long platform that seemed to be positioned miles away from the ground. Big Time Rush was skydiving today, which had always been on their bucket list.

And Carlos was all for stunts and awesome stuff like this, but after arriving and seeing how _high_ up they were going to have to jump, he was scared. Scared like a little girl after seeing a scary movie.

"So all you will have to do is jump off that platform up there, and you will arrive safely right down here." Carlos zoned back into what their guide was telling them. There was a huge mat on the ground, and people were standing around helping people get out of their harnesses.

Carlos watched as another man landed, laughing. It looked fun, it really did, but Carlos was just scared. Like really, _really_ scared.

"Alright, boys, follow me and we're going to head up." Carlos shifted uncomfortably in his skydiving gear. He gulped. They took a small elevator up to the top level of the building, where they would be walking onto a platform outside and jumping.

"Aren't you guys excited? This is _awesome._" James told them, grinning.

"Yeah, it's actually quite strange because at the velocity you're going down at, it's highly-"

"Shut up, Logan. No one needs to hear this." Kendall cut off playfully. Carlos was glad Kendall had stopped Logan from going on, because he really didn't want to hear about the possibility that they could _die_ on this thing.

Logan just rolled his eyes. The guide led them to the door that led to the outside platform. Carlos looked down through the window and almost threw up.

They were hundreds of feet above ground, and he couldn't make out the faces nor genders of the people standing below them. Carlos took a shaky breath. He couldn't do it.

"Alright, so you boys ready?" The guide asked. Carlos wanted to shake his head, but his friends all looked so excited he didn't want to ruin it for them.

The guide opened the door and the four walked out onto the platform. Carlos felt his legs shaking as he stepped onto the platform. He looked down and wanted to cry. One wrong step and he was going to fall to his death.

He had never been up somewhere this high. He'd thought that being the stuntman he was, he wouldn't be scared of heights. But he was, and he was _really_ scared. His palms were sweating and his breathing was getting heavier.

The guide showed them how to activate their parachutes and a bunch of other stuff. "Who wants to go first?"

"I will." Kendall volunteered bravely, since none of the others did. He stepped out onto the edge of the platform and allowed the guide to attach the harness onto him.

Carlos wished he could be brave and fearless like Kendall was, but he wasn't. He was scaredy- cat big-fat-wimp Carlos and he did _not_ want to do this.

Before he knew it, the guide was counting down. Kendall pushed off once he got to 1, and he went flying down, down, down, screaming loudly in joy. Carlos squeezed his eyes shut tightly, his heart beating fast and his head feeling dizzy from the height.

Logan went down, and then it was just him and James. "You wanna go first, Carlos?" James offered. Carlos shook his head. He couldn't do this, he was absolutely sure he couldn't.

James looked at him. "What's wrong, buddy? Are you scared?" Carlos didn't know how James could guess these things, but James had always been good at knowing when Carlos was upset.

Carlos looked down at his feet. "I-I can't do it, James." He whimpered, ashamed of himself.

James just nodded without saying a word. "Hey, um, my friend's scared. Can we just bail out of this?" He asked.

The guide said some things to James that Carlos didn't pay attention to, and they were inside again. Carlos looked at James. "Y-you don't have to skip out on it just because I'm scared."

James shrugged. "It's fine, I'll get another chance someday. You're more important to me than that."

Carlos smiled as the guide walked away. "I-I'm sorry I'm such a wimp... I ruined your trip." He admitted, sniffling.

James wrapped an arm around him. "Come on, Carlos, you're not a wimp. And you didn't ruin anything." He assured him.

"Yeah I am. I thought I wouldn't be scared because I do extreme stuff all the time... but... but... I was." Carlos said softly, chewing on his lip.

"Hey, just because you don't jump off buildings doesn't mean you're a wimp. You're brave in a bunch of other ways too. You do stunts, and you stick up for your friends, even if it means getting hurt yourself. And you came out here to L.A to do something that you weren't good at. That's super brave."

Carlos smiled a little. "I-I guess... you think my singing's bad?" He asked sadly.

James widened his eyes. "N-no, I didn't mean that, I just meant-"

Carlos laughed. "I'm just kidding, James. Thanks for being there for me." He said to James genuinely.

James grinned. "No problem. You're my best friend, after all."


	22. Boyfriend

**Day 22: Boyfriend**

"Logan, what _is_ this?" Camille crossed her arms. She had walked into Logan's apartment, 2J, and had saw him wearing a white lab coat with spilling chemicals and lab notes scattered all around him.

Logan looked up, dropping a beaker and flinching as it broke into broken shards of glass. "What-what are you doing here?" He asked, flustered.

"I was coming to wish you a happy anniversary... What are _you_ doing?" Camille demanded.

Logan looked at his mess. "I-I, uh, you know, I'm just... doing an experiment." He got out, clearly not expecting Camille to be there.

"Yeah, I see that. What kind of experiment?" Camille asked, her eyes wide.

Logan looked down, turning off a few buttons on a few machines and standing up. He took a deep breath. "I'm doing love science, alright?" He spit out, gesturing around obscenely with his hands.

Camille closed her mouth. Then she opened it again. She hadn't expected that. "Wait... what?"

Logan sighed. "I was putting in some of your favorite foods and your favorite colors and seeing from the results what kind of cologne I should wear to our date tonight." He mumbled.

Camille smiled at him. He was so sweet to do that, even though she had no idea how her favorite color would tell him anything about his cologne. "That's awesome, Logan, but you don't have to use science to get me to like you. I'll love you no matter what kind of cologne you're wearing." She told him softly.

"I know... I just, I want to be the perfect boyfriend, you know? And science is the only way to guarantee that." Logan admitted.

Camille kissed Logan on the cheek. "That's not true, Logan. You have to be yourself; _that's_ the only way you'll be the perfect boyfriend to me."

Logan looked at her. "Really? What if you don't like the cologne I wear? Then what? Or... what if I don't wear the right things or say the right things."

"You're already near perfect, since no one can be perfect. But you're the closest thing to perfect I know. And I don't judge boys by their smell. Unless they smell bad. And I don't judge by appearance either... though you _are_ quite handsome." The two chuckled. "But I love you because you're _you, _and not someone else. And not someone science tells you to be either." Camille told Logan sweetly.

"You always say the right things, Logan, even when you don't think you do." Camille told him.

"Thanks, Camille. You are so cool, did you know that?" Logan asked, smiling.

Camille shrugged. "I know."

Logan pulled in for a hug, and they stayed that way for a while. Logan finally let go after kissing Camille on the lips. "Well, happy anniversary. Shall we leave on our perfect date?" He grinned.

Camille smiled. "Of course, my almost-perfect boyfriend."


	23. Practice

**Day 23: Practice**

Carlos's heart fell as he looked at the grade scribbled onto his math test. F. He had failed his _fifth _math test in a row.

He ducked out of the classroom when class ended, not wanting to talk to his friends. Especially not Logan. Logan always got perfect scores and he always made sure everyone else, including Carlos, knew it.

It just made Carlos feel so _stupid, _always getting lowest grade in class. But he just sucked at math; he just couldn't do it.

"Hey, Carlos, what's wrong?" Carlos groaned when he heard Logan's voice calling after him.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired." Carlos lied, pushing Logan's hand off his shoulder. Logan looked a bit hurt.

"You're lying."

Carlos sighed. "Fine. I'm mad that I failed my _fifth_ math test in a row, okay? And I just don't want you shoving it in my face that you're smart and I'm stupid!" He snapped, his voice cracking a bit at the end. He stormed away, back into apartment 2J.

He hated being the stupid one of the group. Logan was so smart... Carlos wished he could be even a fourth as smart as Logan. But he was just plain dumb.

He sat on his bed, tears in his eyes as he looked at all the red marks on his test. He crumpled the piece of paper up and threw it on the floor.

"Carlos?" Logan was at the door. He walked in and picked the paper up. He glanced at it, looking over at Carlos.

"Go away." Carlos mumbled, looked away from Logan's stare.

Logan sat down beside him. "Carlos, this doesn't mean you're stupid. You just need more practice." Logan pointed out gently.

Carlos scoffed, sniffling. "Then how come you're so good at it and I'm not?"

"Look, I'm sorry I always shove it into my face that I get better grades than you. You know that being smart is my advantage. I'm not crazy and fun like you are." Logan admitted.

"No, Logan, you're fun and crazy. _And_ smart. You're all of that." Carlos told him.

Logan smiled. "Thanks. And I'm going to tutor you every day until you can ace those stupid tests, alright? You're not stupid just because you can't do math."

Carlos grinned. "It's just like back in junior high. Thanks, Logan! You're the best!" He pulled Logan in for a tight hug.

Logan chuckled. "Okay, buddy, you're welcome. You don't have to kill me."

Carlos let go. "Sorry!"

Logan gave the test back to Carlos. "Okay, so what are you struggling on?"

Carlos sighed. "I don't know... I just don't anything." He admitted softly.

Logan nodded. "Okay. Well starting next chapter, whenever you have any questions, just ask me. I'll teach you everything and you'll get an A on the next test. Sound good?"

Carlos nodded. "Yep, sounds good!"


	24. Concert

**Day 24: Concert**

"I'm so excited!" Carlos squealed, causing a bunch of other people to glance their way.

"Shut up, Carlos." James groaned. "We get it. You're excited." He hadn't meant to be so rude to his friend, but the fact was, James wasn't feeling so excited. He felt more... nervous.

It was their first concert, _ever, _and James was afraid he'd mess up and puke all over the stage and then they'd never have a concert again and Big Time Rush have ended before it even started.

But apparently no one else in the band had that fear, because they all felt the same way as Carlos. But James was scared. He was afraid of messing up and he was afraid of this concert.

But he had to pursue his dream, right? This was his dream; he couldn't be scared.

"Dogs!" The four flinched at Gustavo's loud voice. Even after a couple of months in L.A., they still hadn't gotten used to it.

"Yes, Gustavo?" Kendall smiled fakely. Gustavo ignored him.

"Dogs, this is your first concert, so _don't_ mess it up." He stated, walking away with Kelly.

James gulped. Kendall patted his back. "It's fine, buddy. We won't mess up. We've been practicing for weeks. We've worked hard; relax." He told him.

James just nodded and forced a smile. "Yeah, you're right. Nothing is going to go wrong." He agreed, pretending to be confident. That's who he was; he was confident.

But he didn't think he could do this.

_line line line_

Yep. He was right; he could _not _do this.

There was 10 minutes before the concert started; James peeked out the curtain and almost puked right then and there. There were _hundreds, _no, _thousands,_ of fans out there screaming their names.

He couldn't let all those people down out there. He had to be perfect.

But he was afraid he wasn't perfect. He was going to mess up, fall off the stage, and everyone would boo him. He hated being booed.

"You ready, buddy?" James jumped as Logan's hand clamped onto his shoulder.

James grinned. "Yep." He lied.

The 10 minutes was up before he knew it, and soon, someone was ushering them out onto the stage. "Big Time Rush! Big Time Rush!" James could see people in every direction for as far as he could see. He was be disappointing _all _of them when he messed up.

Their first song came on, and James looked out at all of them. There was a pretty girl with blonde hair that he would totally not charm if he barfed. There was his friends from the Palm Woods, ready to ridicule him if he messed up. And then there was Gustavo, glaring at them, just waiting for James to screw something up.

Kendall tapped James on the shoulder. "What wrong, dude? The song is starting."

James then realized that everyone was looked at _him._ He had missed the cue and now he had messed up. His dreams were over.

James ran off the stage and into his dressing room. He had tears in his eyes, but he refused to cry. He wasn't _that_ big of a baby.

"James! James, wait up, what's the matter?" Kendall chased after him.

"I-I messed up, that's what happened. I ruined everything, Kendall, I'm sorry!" James cried out.

Kendall put a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, you didn't ruin everything. It was just a mistake. Come on, let's get out there and show them what we've got."

James shook his head. "You don't get it, Kendall... I'm afraid I'm going to mess up everything. I have... I have _stage fright."_ James admitted, feeling like a huge wimp.

Kendall looked at him. "Aw, dude, I didn't know you were afraid of this. I'd think... I'd think you'd love this. Getting all the attention." He pointed out.

James shrugged. "Yeah, but that means everyone is just watching until you mess up."

"So? No one's going to ridicule you forever, James. One mistake isn't going to change your life, buddy." Kendall told him.

James took a shaky breath. "I-I guess. So... Gustavo won't kill me?" He asked hoarsely, chuckling.

Kendall chuckled along with him. "We'll kill him before he can kill you, I promise. Now come on, you'll be fine out there."

James heard the cheering, the music, and he knew that he _wanted_ this. He had to go up there, or he'd never get what he wanted.

"You know what? You're right, Kendall. Let's go out there and rock this place!"

Kendall laughed, wrapping an arm around James's shoulders. "That's the spirit, James!"


	25. Bed

**Day 25: Bed**

It was 3 in the morning, but Carlos couldn't fall back asleep.

The four boys had watched _The Texas Chain Massacre_ before going to sleep that night for their famous Horror Movie Night. And Carlos _hated_ horror movies.

And he had just had a horrible nightmare where Leatherface was chasing him around and trying to kill him, and now he was terrified that he would pop out of the dark and kill him painfully with his chainsaw.

Carlos whimpered, hiding his head under his blanket. He could swear he could hear noises coming from under his bed, on the ceiling, outside the window, outside the door.

"James?" Carlos whispered, poking his head out of the blanket.

"James?" Carlos called louder, afraid that the chainsaw killer was going to kill him.

James groaned, stirring. "What do you want, Carlos? It's the middle of the night."

Carlos glanced around fearfully. "Can I... can I sleep with you? I'm scared." He admitted softly.

James just groaned and turned around. "Leave me alone, Carlos." He grumbled, falling back asleep.

Carlos gulped, getting out of his bed and placing his hand on the doorknob. Maybe Kendall or Logan would let him sleep with the. But what if the chainsaw guy was right outside waiting for him?

Carlos squeezed his eyes shut and opened the door in one quick motion. He glanced down the hall. Nothing was there. Breathing heavily, he tiptoed over to Kendall and Logan's room. They were both sleeping.

He went to Kendall first. He shook his should gently. "Kendall? Kendall?"

"Huh? Carlos? Why are you in my room?" Kendall muttered groggily.

"Can I sleep with you? I'm afraid..."

"Really, Carlos? You're, like, 17, and you're afraid of the chainsaw massacre guy?" Carlos froze at the name.

"Can I? Please?" He asked.

Kendall sighed. "Grow up and go back to sleep, Carlos." Carlos looked down sadly. Kendall began to snore again.

Logan was his last chance. Carlos tapped Logan on the shoulder. "Logan? Can I sleep with you?"

Logan groaned. "Why? You're not scared of that stupid movie, are you?" He asked.

Carlos gulped. "Uh... maybe?"

Logan opened his eyes. "That movie is scientifically wrong, Carlos. That isn't ever going to happen to anyone, okay? Don't worry and go back to sleep. Good night." Logan finished curtly, falling back asleep too.

Carlos didn't know how the movie was scientifically inaccurate so he was still scared. He tiptoed back into James's room. He still could hear the noises.

"Carlos? You're still up?" Carlos jumped at the voice, relaxing when he realized it was James.

"Uh, y-yeah. Sorry for waking you up." He apologized.

James sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Hey, if you're scared, you can sleep with me. I'm sorry for snapping at you before." He told Carlos, who smiled. He ran into James's bed, snuggling up to his warm chest.

"You're scared of that movie, Carlos?" James asked gently, rubbing Carlos's back comfortingly.

Carlos sniffled. "Y-yeah... and Kendall told me to grow up, and Logan said I was being stupid... I'm such a baby." He admitted sadly.

"No, buddy, you're not a baby. Lots of people are scared of chainsaw massacre people, trust me." He said, chuckling. "Kendall and Logan are just too tired to realize that they could be killed." James explained. "Or else they would be scared too."

"No they wouldn't." Carlos shook his head.

"Well, I would be. And I was scared too, of that movie. Really." James admitted.

"You were?" Carlos asked hesitantly.

James nodded. "Yep. Now let's go to sleep. Gustavo wants up at the studio at 9 tomorrow."

Carlos nodded. "Okay. Thanks, James." He whispered, closing his eyes and burying his face into James's shirt.

James patted him on the back. "What are friends for, right? Good night, Carlos."

"Good night, James."


	26. Paper

**Day 26: Paper**

"Logan? Can you play with me?" Carlos asked, walking around boredly. It was 7 at night and because it was summer, it was still light outside and Carlos was itching to go outside with somebody.

Logan sighed in frustration. He had been working on his homework for the past 3 hours, and he still could not understand the physics challenge problem. "No, Carlos, I'm doing homework. For the a hundredth time." He got out, teeth clenched. Carlos could be so annoying sometimes.

"Please, Logan? All you do is homework." He complained. Logan snapped his book shut, glaring at Carlos.

"Leave me alone, okay? I've been trying to concentrate and your nagging voice in my head is not helping, okay?" He said loudly. Carlos looked taken aback.

"I'm sorry, Logan... you're just always so uptight. Maybe you could try to have some fun now and then." Carlos told him honestly.

"I'm _not_ uptight!" Logan snapped, making Carlos flinch a little. "I just care about my grade, unlike you."

Carlos look a bit hurt at that. "I care about my grades. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun!" He pointed out.

Logan sighed, putting his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Carlos... I'm just stressed out." He admitted.

"That's alright. Come on, let's go hang out by the pool! We can play Marco Polo." He suggested excitedly.

Logan began to shake his head. "Come on, Logan! You can't always do homework! You gotta go out and have some fun!" He said.

Then his eyes brightened. "Oh! I know what we can do! If you like paper so much, then we can make origami!" He squealed.

"How do you even know origami?" Logan asked.

"I learned." Carlos responded vaguely. Logan knew Carlos wasn't going to give him a direct answer, so he just went along with it.

"So we can start off my making a paper dog." Carlos instructed, handing Logan a blank sheet of paper. "Then you do this. Then this. Then this." He said, folding his paper in different directions.

"Thanks for the instructions, Carlos." Logan said sarcastically, but he was still able to follow what Carlos was doing.

Carlos didn't seem to understand sarcasm, because he just kept on going "this and that and then do this" and on and on until Logan looked down at his creation and saw that it was almost a dog. Carlos's was almost perfect; Logan hadn't known Carlos could do something as fragile as origami.

"I didn't know you were skilled at folding paper." Logan said.

Carlos grinned. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me. Like how I think that you worry too much about homework."

Logan laughed. "I already know you think that, Carlos."

"Oh. Well, you do. Come on; let's go and play! You can finish your homework later!"

Logan looked down at his physics homework, and then at the dog he had just folded. "You know what, Carlos? You're right. Let's go."


	27. Bully

**Day 27: Bully**

James was disgusted. Somehow, he had just eaten another double cheeseburger, and now he could almost feel the calories in his stomach, creating disgusting fat in his body.

James locked the bathroom door and knelt down by the toilet. Sticking a finger in his mouth, he threw up everything he had just eaten at lunch 20 minutes earlier.

Gustavo had told James last mouth that losing 10 pounds would be in the best of his interests. And because James didn't want to lose his job being famous, he had listened. He had brought his weight down from 200 pounds to 190.

But then he realized how fat he actually was. 190 pounds was almost overweight. So he began to try and lose more weight, and he found that purging was the easiest way to do it.

So now he weighed 180 pounds, and it had only been 2 weeks. He was losing weight quickly. James was glad he was getting skinnier. But he still had to lose more weight.

"James?" James cursed, flushing the toilet and washing his face. "Who is it? I'm almost done." James called.

"James?" It was Logan. "Were you... throwing up? Are you sick?" Suddenly, the door unlocked and Logan was rushing in.

"I'm fine, Logan. I'm not sick." James assured Logan.

Logan glanced at James. He looked down at James's legs, at the floor, and in the mirror. "You're bulimic." He said.

It was such a horrifying word, something that only happened to girls. "I'm not bulimic!" James defended himself.

Logan raised his eyebrows. "You've been losing so much weight for the past month and a half now, and you never come to eat with us, and there's puke all over the floor." Logan pointed out. James closed his eyes. He was busted.

"I'm fine, okay? I'm just doing it until I lose the weight that Gustavo wanted me to lose."

"Gustavo only wanted you to lose 10 pounds. But I'm pretty sure you lost more than 10 by now." Logan pointed out. "James, this is unhealthy. You're not fat."

James shook his head. "I'm heavier than you, Kendall, and Carlos." He argued.

"Yeah, that's because Kendall and I are skinny and Carlos is tiny! You're full of muscle and you're 6 foot 2, James!" Logan said loudly. "You're weight is perfectly normal. Well, it _was._ Now I think you're underweight."

James sighed, tears in his eyes. "I just don't want to lose the band. If I get too fat then no one will like me anymore. I'll be bullied like I was when I was little."

Logan put a hand on James's shoulder. "James, we're not going to stop being famous even if you gain 30 pounds. People love you because you're _you_, James, not because you look like a male model. And you're not overweight, dude. Most of your weight is muscle, anyways. And no one is going to bully you if they're any sort of decent person. And right now, you're the only bully in your life."

James nodded. "Okay, I guess you're right... I'm sorry."

"It's fine, James. Don't ever feel like you have to do this to lose weight, okay? Because you never do, even when you grow old and weigh 500 pounds. Promise me you won't do this again, okay?" Logan asked firmly.

James nodded. "I promise. And I won't weigh 500 pounds when I grow old, just so you know."

Logan laughed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever you say, James. Now how about we go out and buy you some cheeseburgers?"


	28. Heaven

**Day 28: Heaven**

"Isn't this beautiful, Kendall?" 8 year old Carlos sighed in content, lying on his back as he stared up at the night sky. He and his best friend, Kendall Knight, were currently star gazing in Kendall's backyard.

Kendall shrugged. "It's just a bunch of stars, Carlos. I see them every night." He mumbled.

"But Kendall... I see the Big Dipper!" Carlos said excitedly. Kendall sighed. He hated star gazing, but because Carlos wanted to do it, his mommy had told he had to go and make sure Carlos didn't get himself hurt.

"That's not the Big Dipper, Carlos. It's just a bunch of random stars." Kendall told Carlos. Carlos was such a baby; no 8 year old boy thought stars were pretty.

But Carlos did. "But they're all so _pretty,_ Kendall. I wish I could take one right out from the sky." Carlos said wistfully.

"Logan told me stars are huge. So you wouldn't be able to do that." Kendall pointed out.

Carlos shrugged. "That's alright. It's still cool to look at them. Thanks for doing this with me, Kendall." He smiled, his brown eyes shining just like the stars above him.

Kendall couldn't help but smile back; Carlos had that effect on him. "No problem. It's more interesting than I thought." He lied.

Carlos grinned. He looked up at the stars and then back at Kendall. "Kendall, do you believe in heaven?" He asked.

Kendall sat up along with Carlos. "Heaven? Like... where dead people go?"

"Yeah... only better. My mommy says there are angels in heaven, and that God lives in heaven. Maybe Sparky is in heaven, right Kendall?" He asked, his big eyes pleading for Kendall to agree. Sparky had been Carlos's favorite pet dog until a week or so ago, when he had been hit by a car and died.

Kendall nodded. "Yeah, of course he's in heaven. Do you think... maybe my daddy's in heaven?" He asked quietly.

Carlos looked down. "Yeah, probably. He has such a great family so he's probably in heaven with all the angels and Sparky." He said.

Kendall nodded. "Yeah, he probably is." He hated talking about his daddy to any of his friends, but with Carlos... it felt like he could talk about anything with Carlos. Carlos was innocent and he wouldn't ever judge Kendall, even though Kendall judged him countless times.

"Well, now that you know your daddy's in heaven... isn't it pretty?" Carlos asked.

Kendall shrugged. "I guess it is."

Carlos grinned at him. "Can we go back inside? I'm cold."

"Sure." Kendall stood up, pulling Carlos up with him. "You wanna race back?"

"But you always win!" Carlos complained. He was right; Kendall had longer legs and therefore could always run faster than Carlos.

"I'll give you a 5 second head start, okay?" Kendall suggested.

Carlos nodded. "Okay! But you have to count it with the mississippis." He said seriously.

Kendall laughed. "Okay, Carlos. Ready, get set... GO!" Carlos took off running.

Kendall looked back at the sky, at heaven, at his daddy. "I love you, daddy." He whispered, before running off the chase after Carlos.


	29. Magic

**Day 29: Magic**

Logan hated his friends. He had come home just to get a bucketful of ice water splashed over him by Kendall. Then Carlos had ate his lunch, and then James had slammed a door into Logan's face on accident.

Logan slammed the door shut to his room, grumbling to himself. Why couldn't his friends just be normal people? He really needed to get new friends.

Logan yelped in surprise when he stumbled over a book. He flipped it open; this wasn't one of the books in his bookshelf.

In the book it read: "Make a wish. Any wish."

Logan shrugged, thinking it was a prank that one of the boys had pulled on him. "I wish I was never friends with those three hooligans." Logan called out loudly so the boys could hear him. He rolled his eyes; did they really think Logan would be tricked by some stupid magic book?

But suddenly, everything began to spin around him. Logan screamed as he was thrown off balance. He fell to the ground as things began to settle down again.

But he was no longer in the room he and Kendall shared. He was in his house, his home in Minnesota, in his own room. "What the..." Logan breathed out. The clock read 7:30 am.

"Logan, honey! Time for school!" His mother called. Logan looked around, confused. School? He didn't go to school. And when did his mom...

He was back in Minnesota. It hit him like a ton of bricks. The magic book had... worked? Logan wouldn't believe it.

Logan grabbed his backpack, which was somehow already packed, and walked down the stairs. "Mom?" He called. His mother appeared.

"Come on, honey, let's go. We're going to be late." Logan followed her into the car, dazed. What was going on?

He arrived at school at about 7:45. "Uh, thanks mom." He got out, looking around. "See ya."

"Love you, sweetie." His mom called as she drove away. Logan turned to face the school.

He was in 11th grade. Somehow he knew that. It was so weird how he knew that.

Logan opened the door into the school, almost afraid of what he would find. "Hey, look who it is! Logan Mitchell!"

Logan looked around. Everybody looked at him. "Hi?" Logan got out nervously.

"Hi? That's all you can say?" A kid walked by with blue eyes and blonde hair, clapping him on the back. His name was Ashton, Logan somehow remembered. "You're the homecoming king!"

Logan gaped at him. "W-what? Homecoming king?" But even as he said it, memories he hadn't experienced flooded over him. The dance. His date. Him being announced as king.

Ashton laughed. "Stop playing dumb, Logan."

Logan laughed along with him nervously. "Uh, yeah, I'm homecoming king! Woohoo!" Logan cheered. Everybody cheered with him and began to leave. Soon it was just him and Ashton.

"So, you coming to Jamez's party tonight? 7:30." He asked Logan.

Party? What? Where were James, Kendall, and Carlos? They usually didn't go to parties, since there was too much alcohol and drugs and sex and they were all "good boys."

"Uh, yeah, I guess I am." Logan replied, because he felt it was the right thing to say.

Ashton headed off the class, leaving Logan confused and worried. The book had come true.

Had he wished his friends out of existence?

But then he saw the blond hair that he had grown to know. It was Kendall. Logan walked toward the crowd, pushing through until he saw Kendall.

He almost fainted. Kendall was _not_ the same Kendall he knew. This Kendall had tattoos, eyeliner, and _piercings. _Kendall was a bad boy.

"Kendall?" Logan got out.

Kendall glanced over at him. "Oh, look! It's the homecoming king!" He said sarcastically. "Nice to see you."

Logan froze. Kendall sounded... "Oh my gosh..." Logan breathed out. Kendall was high.

A girl kissed Kendall on the lips. Logan looked away. What had happened to Kendall?

Logan walked away. He had done this to them. He had wished that he was never friends with any of them... and this was what happened?

"Hey, Logan!" Logan looked up. It was James. He at least looked normal, but he was surrounded by girls and guys, which Logan guessed was pretty unsurprising too.

"You coming to my party tonight? 7:30." Oh... James was called _Jamez_ now. He wore a hockey jersey, and Logan realized he was the captain of the hockey team.

Logan nodded. "Yeah, I'll be there." The words didn't even feel like his own.

Kendall was a drug addict, James was a player. He didn't even want to think what Carlos was.

He glanced at the clock; it was almost 8. He began to walk to his first class, which he remembered was room 149. He was so into thinking about James and Kendall that he didn't realize he had bumped into someone.

He opened his mouth to apologize, but the other kid beat him to it. "I-I'm sorry!" He squeaked, his voice a tad bit familiar. Logan looked up.

"Carlos?" Carlos didn't have his helmet on, which was already weird enough. But there was a nasty looking bruise on his cheek. And it looked to be in the shape of a fist.

Carlos looked frightened at seeing him. "Y-yeah, I'm sorry for bumping into you, I really am." He apologized.

"It's, uh, fine. It's fine, don't worry about it." Logan got out, confused. Carlos just nodded and began to walk away.

Logan turned to chase after him. "Hey, wait! What's wrong with your face?" He asked.

Carlos looked like he had just realized there was a bruise on his cheek. "Uh, nothing. Really, it's nothing." But just as he said it, he was shoved into the wall by a huge football player.

"Hey, loser! You're talking to the homecoming king?" He sneered, reaching his fist back and giving Carlos another bruise on the other side of his face.

"Hey, stop! What are you doing?" Logan cried out, running in to stop the guy. "Leave him alone!"

The guy snorted. "What do you care? Everybody knows this kid's not worth crap." His posse, who were standing behind him, laughed.

Logan looked at Carlos and then back at the guy. He ran off, not able to face what he had done to his best friend.

This was all his fault. He had never been friends with Kendall, James, or Carlos in this universe... and this was what happened.

It made sense, too. Kendall had been depressed about his dad dying until Logan had come along. James had been a narcissistic "popular" guy until Logan had set him straight. Carlos hadn't had any friends until Logan came along.

And so now Kendall was addicted to drugs, James was a popular guy, and Carlos was a bullied nobody. And it was all Logan's fault.

Logan put his head in his hands. "What have I done?" He sighed, tears in his eyes.

But as if on cue, he heard a strange noise coming from inside the bathroom. He ran in, and there, in the center of the floor, was the book.

It said, "Would you like to undo your wish?"

Logan grabbed it and held it to his chest. "Yes, yes, please! I want to undo it! I wish I had always been friends with those three hooligans!" He shouted.

The world twisted again. Logan didn't fall this time.

He ended up back in his bedroom in 2J. The book was gone. Someone was knocking on his door.

"Logan? Logan, can we come in?"

Logan opened the door. His three "hooligans" were standing there.

Logan hugged them tightly. "I'm sorry! I'll never leave you guys again, I promise!" He said.

Kendall pushed him off gently. "Uh, I don't know what that means, but we're just here to apologize."

"Yeah! We made you cake!" Carlos said excitedly. Logan reached over and squeezed Carlos tightly into a hug.

"Um, not that I don't like hugs, Logan... but I can't really... breathe." Carlos gasped. Logan let go of him, grinning sheepishly.

"Are you okay, Logan?" James questioned, concerned.

Logan grinned. "Yeah, I'm awesome."

He never needed to get new friends again.


	30. Anger

**Day 30: Anger**

It was no secret that Kendall had AMI. Anger Management Issues. That was the term his friends had made up for him to explain his temper.

He had exploded at his friends countless times as they were growing up. He'd probably made Carlos cry about 100 times throughout their lives. So Kendall really needed to work on controlling his anger.

It had just gotten worse when they moved the L.A, since he had met someone who had even more anger management issues than he had. So he and Gustavo and butted heads since the first day.

So today, James, Logan, and Carlos were going to try and see who, in fact, was more prone to anger.

With the help of Logan's knack or science, they had developed an experiment, and Kendall and Gustavo were the test subjects.

They were going to hide a video camera in the rehearsal studio, where they would conduct their experiment. They were going to see how long it took for them to get mad and shout.

First up was Kendall. The boys waited until Kendall was in the studio. Then their plan commenced.

Carlos went up to Kendall, whistling. Kendall hated whistling. "Hi, Kendall! What are you doing?" He asked loudly. Kendall winced and put a hand up to his ear.

"Great, could you be any louder?" He shot back sarcastically.

Carlos grinned. "Sorry!" He said, probably even louder than before. "Do you want to go and play touch football with me?" Carlos asked.

"Not now, Carlos. I'm practicing the new dance moves Gustavo taught us." Kendall said.

"Aw, come on! _Please?_"

"Carlos, go away."

Carlos took the cue and left. Next up it was James.

"What's up, Kendall?" He asked, spraying Cuda spray all over. Kendall coughed.

"Dude! What the heck? I told you not to spray that stuff in here!" Kendall shouted angrily. Logan noted the time. It had taken Kendall 3 minutes and 23 seconds to lose his temper.

James walked back, grinning. "On to Gustavo."

When Gustavo was in the studio writing, Carlos went up to him. "Hey, Gus! What's up?" He greeted loudly.

"Dog! Not so loud. I'm concentrating on writing the new song for the third album!" He said loudly, but James and Logan decided not to count that as screaming yet.

Carlos grinned in his face. "Do you want to teach me those dance moves again? The ones for Love Me Love Me?" He asked.

Gustavo shook his head. "No. Go away."

So Carlos left and James arrived. "Sup, Gustavo? Can you teach me those new lyrics for the Love Me Love Me song?" He asked casually.

Gustavo stood up. "What is this? I joke?! Go away and LEAVE ME ALONE!" He shouted. Logan wrote down the time.

James walked away quickly. The three boys met outside of Rocque Records. "So? Who got the faster time?" James asked eagerly.

Logan scoffed. "Who do you think?"

James and Carlos looked at each other. "Gustavo." They responded in unison.

Logan nodded. "Yep. 2 minutes 55 seconds."

James shrugged. "That's not that much faster than Kendall."

"Yeah. So they both need help." Logan said.

"Hey, guys. What are you doing? Who needs help?" The three boys screamed as the unexpected voice greeted them.

"Oh! Hi, Kendall!" Carlos greeted nervously.

"We weren't talking about anyone... bye!" James said. The three scurried away, leaving Kendall confused. He shrugged and headed on into the studio to ask Gustavo to go over the tour arrangements again.


	31. Call

**Day 31: Call**

James was waiting for the most important call of his life. He had just auditioned for one of the most anticipated movies of 2016: The Rise of the Dead.

He had auditioned for the main character Jack, who had immunity from the disease that spread rampant around the world and had to battle zombies. There had been hundreds of people auditioning, but James thought he had the best abs out of all of them.

And his abs had helped him in his audition with Camille during Witches of Rodeo Drive. Too bad he had turned to role down. But it was for Camille's friendship. And that was worth it.

But this audition was serious. Not only was his to-be co-star going to be smoking hot, this was also going to make him even more famous than before.

His phone suddenly rang. James jumped up to get it. He pressed talk. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this James Diamond?"

"Yes." James responded, his heart pounding.

"We are sorry to inform you that you did not cast the role you auditioned for. Thanks for stopping by."

James froze, gripping his phone in his hands. The line went dead, leaving James standing there listening to the beeping of the phone. He hadn't gotten the part. He hadn't gotten the part.

He hadn't gotten the role of a lifetime.

"Hey, James!"

"What's up!"

His three friends stormed into the apartment, chatting about their time at the pool. James had skipped out, fearing he would miss the call.

"So, you get that call yet?" Kendall asked curiously. James just nodded, not wanting to talk to anyone.

"Did you get it?" Carlos asked eagerly. James just shook his head, staring straight ahead at nothing.

The three shared a glance, sighing before walking over to James. "James, buddy, it was your first audition. You can't just land a role your first try." Logan pointed out.

James sighed. "I just... I don't know." He mumbled.

"You just what? You wanted to land the role so you could break out of Big Time Rush?" Kendall snapped. James looked down.

Carlos looked at him, wide-eyes. "You don't have to be the most famous person in the world, James. You don't even have to be famous. But there are still people like us who still love you no matter if you're famous or not." He explained. Kendall and Logan nodded.

James looked at them. They were right, weren't they? He didn't have to be famous. He didn't even have to be known. He had his three best friends, and that was all that mattered.

And his hair and girls, of course.

James took a deep breath. "I guess you're right..."

Kendall clapped him on the shoulder. "James... you'll get 'em next time, alright?" He asked, smirking.

James nodded. "Yep. Next time." But he knew there wouldn't be a next time.

James had three best friends, a loving family, and awesome fans who would do anything for him.

He already had enough.

**A/N- Wow... this has been a long and fun and difficult ride. I didn't really update on time, but I ended on the right date, didn't I? This has been such a wonderful challenge, so thanks to everyone who reviewed this 31 Day Challenge.**

**Peace, Love, and Giraffes**

**Anonymous Skrtle**


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